India-China Informal Summit concludes
The Prime Minister of India – Narendra Modi and the President of People’s Republic of China – Xi Jinping began the 2nd day of their Informal Summit today, i.e., Saturday, October 12, 2019, with a tete-e-tete in Mamallapuram.
Xi is on a 2-day tour of India from October 11-12, 2019 for the 2nd Informal Summit between the 2 nations. The first Informal Summit was held on April 27-28 in 2018 at Wuhan in China. The 2nd Informal Summit is aimed at having a dialogue between Modi and Xi on strengthening bilateral ties.
The 2nd day started with 2 leaders holding talks at the sea facing Taj Fisherman’s Cove Resort & Spa in Chennai. The one-on-one discussions were followed by delegation-level talks at the Tango Hall.
Thanking Xi, Modi tweeted, “I thank President Xi Jinping for coming to India for our second Informal Summit. The #ChennaiConnect will add great momentum to India-China relations. This will benefit the people of our nations and the world.”
During the discussions, the 2 leaders agreed upon setting up a new mechanism to discuss trade, investment and services, at an elevated level. The objective is to identify new areas for investment and enhancing trade volume and value of two-way trade. The Vice Premier of China – Hu Chunhua and the Finance Minister of India – Nirmala Sitharaman will head the development of this mechanism.
Both Modi and Xi agreed on having a having rules-based global trading system. Modi and Xi are also looking for increasing cooperation in defence. There was new focus on people to people relations. It was decided that public of both countries must be brought in the relationship. Besides, both the countries have committed to working towards climate changes.
Terming the discussions as productive, Modi tweeted, “Discussions continued with President Xi Jinping at Mamallapuram. We’ve been having productive deliberations on further improving India-China relations.”
However, Modi and Xi did not discussed the matter of Kashmir. Speaking to media, the Foreign Secretary of India – Vijay Gokhale said, “Kashmir issue was not raised nor discussed. Our position is anyway very clear that this is an internal matter of India.”
Before the visit, there were speculations that Xi might discuss the with Modi. The chances of taking up Kashmir matter with India were high as the Prime Minister of Pakistan – Imran Khan had met Xi in Beijing, ahead of latter’s visit to India.
President Xi has also invited Modi for the next round of Summit in China. The dates of the Informal Summit will be worked upon later.
Expressing gratitude to the people of Tamil Nadu, Modi tweeted, “A special Thank You to my sisters and brothers of Tamil Nadu. As always, their warmth and hospitality was outstanding. It’s always a delight to be among the people of this dynamic state. I also thank the Government of TN for their efforts in organising the Summit in Mamallapuram.”
I thank President Xi Jinping for coming to India for our second Informal Summit. The #ChennaiConnect will add great momentum to India-China relations. This will benefit the people of our nations and the world. pic.twitter.com/mKDJ1g5OYO
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 12, 2019
He further tweeted, “I would also like to express my gratitude to all political parties and socio-cultural organisations of Tamil Nadu for the support and hospitality during the India-China Informal Summit in beautiful Mamallapuram.”
Earlier on Friday, October 11, 2019, Xi Jinping opted to travel to tourist town of Mamallapuram by road instead of a helicopter. As per their policy, Chinese leaders don’t travel by choppers. He travelled from Chennai to Mamallapuram in a Chinese luxury car – Honggi, which means ‘Red Flag’.
