Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday kicks off a three-day visit to China, with the inking of a border pact to avoid army face-offs and boosting economic ties topping his agenda.

According to the Hindustan Times, Chinese and Indian officials have worked on a Border Defense Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) to set tighter ground rules for the armed forces along the border.

Under the new agreement, the two sides will give notice of patrols along the border. They will also ensure that patrols do not "tail" each other to reduce the chance of confrontation, Reuters reported.

Singh said in a statement on Sunday he will discuss the issue with Premier Li Keqiang with a forward-looking and problem-solving approach.

There are indications that the agreement may be signed during Singh's visit, according to Indian media.

According to earlier reports, the BDCA was proposed by China in March and India was reluctant to take up the talks until the two armies held a three-week standoff in the western section of the border between April and May.

India claimed a platoon of Chinese border troops "intruded" 19 kilometers across the Line of Actual Control between the two countries, in comments that were dismissed by China.

The Times of India commented that resolution of border tensions is the "fundamental basis" for improving India-China bilateral relations in all areas.

Despite the encouraging sign, Fu Xiaoqiang, a research fellow from the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times that sealing the pact is far from solving the border disputes.

"The new border pact is actually only a supplement to previous border agreements by the two governments in efforts to prevent border troops from conflicts or standoffs," said Fu.

Singh also hopes to make progress on closing the widening trade gap.

China is India's second-largest trading partner, with two-way trade totaling $66.47 billion last year.

But India's trade deficit with China soared to more than $40 billion in 2012-13 compared to $39.4 billion in 2011-12 and $27.95 billion in 2010-11, The Financial Express quoted Indian official figures as saying.

India and China aim to achieve their commonly set target of $100 billion in terms of bilateral trade by 2015 and are also striving to ensure balance of trade flows.

"The bilateral economic and trade ties have been the most positive among the two countries' relations," Zhao Gancheng, head of the Center for South Asian Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times, but noted that the trade deficit indeed disturbs the two countries' trade development.

"Increasing China's direct investment in India would be a good solution to cope with the deficit," said Zhao.

The possibility of Chinese investment in India through the mechanism of industrial parks is being explored, Indian officials said ahead of Singh's visit.

Indian foreign secretary Sujatha Singh said a proposal for setting up Chinese business parks in five states, which will work like special economic zones, will also be discussed when the two leaders meet, The Financial Express reported.

The paper said the idea to set up business parks so as to provide platforms for cluster-type development of enterprises of the two countries was mooted during the visit of Premier Li to India in May.

Meanwhile, according to the Hindustan Times, impressed with China's highways infrastructure and superior standards for construction and maintenance, a bilateral pact on cooperation in the road transportation sector is set to be signed between the two countries during the prime minister's visit.

"There is a great demand for India to cooperate with China on infrastructure construction, but the Indian side has set many limits for Chinese companies to invest in the country," said Fu.

Agencies contributed to this story