SHANGHAI, May 16 � Pitching for cooperation between India and China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the two should together touch new heights of progress to eliminate poverty, which would benefit the entire world as one-third of global population lives in the two countries, reports PTI.
Launching the Centre for Gandhian & Indian Studies at the Fudan University here, he said India and China have historical and civilisational ties and they can together create a world that serves humanity.
The Prime Minister, on the third and last day of his China visit, invoked Mahatma Gandhi and said solutions to the major crises of the present world � terrorism and global warming � lie in his teachings.
�It is said that the 21st century belongs to Asia. One-third of the world population belongs to these two countries. So if India and China work together to eliminate poverty, one-third of the global population will be rid of this problem, which will be beneficial for the entire world,� Modi said addressing the students and faculty of the university in Hindi.
�Therefore, India and China should together touch new heights of progress involving sensitivity towards humanity and philosophy of Lord Buddha and experiments of Mahatma Gandhi so that we can give to the world a system which is dedicated to welfare of humanity,� he said.
Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, Modi said, �The world today is going through two major crises � global warming and terrorism. Solutions to both lie in Gandhi�s teachings. Gandhi is still relevant.�
�Mahatma Gandhi may have been born in a corner of India, but he was a global citizen,� Modi said, adding that the apostle of peace could have shown the way out of the crises that the world is going through today.
At the event where a Chinese student recited Sanskrit slokas, Modi said the basic philosophy of India has been to let knowledge come from all directions. �There is no east or west for knowledge. It is global. Any kind of knowledge benefits humanity,� he said and referred to the Gita�s teachings, which say that one should keep working without bothering about results.
