NEW DELHI - Chinese President Hu Jintao and India's prime minister met Tuesday for talks expected to be dominated by economic issues as the two Asian giants seek to overcome long-held rivalries and suspicion to foster closer relations.

A military parade greeted Hu before he met Prime Minister Monmahan Singh in the Indian capital.

Hu said his country wants to expand "mutually beneficial cooperation" with India, and that the two countries can work together for peace and development in Asia.

The four-day visit is intended to promote "a strategic and cooperative partnership" between the world's two fastest-growing economies, Hu said in a statement issued after his arrival Monday.

"I am visiting India to enhance friendship, increase mutual trust, strengthen cooperation and chart the future course for our relations," he said.

The two leaders were expected to hold a joint news conference later Tuesday.

In a goodwill gesture, India said it was relaxing its visa requirements for Chinese businessmen.

During Hu's four-day visit, India and China are expected to sign several deals on closer economic and scientific cooperation.

The visit, the first by a Chinese president in a decade, is also focused on seeking a resolution to political issues that divide the two countries.

Both sides say such visits create opportunities for economic cooperation and will help to resolve decades-old political differences rooted in a 1962 border war.

Despite political irritants, India-China economic ties have grown rapidly in recent years and two-way trade is projected to reach US$20 billion (euro16 billion) this year, up from almost nothing two decades ago.

The two countries have agreed to work together to secure energy supplies and there has been talk of exploring a free trade pact. Earlier this year they reopened a Himalayan border crossing that had been closed since a border war 44 years ago.

New Delhi may also seek China's backing for a civilian nuclear deal with the United States. The deal seeks to give India access to the heavily regulated international market for nuclear fuel and technologies, and is likely to be put before the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group for approval early next year.

Hu leaves India for Pakistan on Thursday.