FORTALEZA, July 15: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping has resulted in two major gains for India. China agreed to open an additional route to Kailash Mansarovar for Indian Pilgrims and agreed to take steps to remove adverse trade balance against India. Besides for the first time, China conveyed to India that it wanted a deeper role for it in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in which India has only observer status at present.
China also invited Mr Modi to attend the Epic meeting on cooperation among the countries of Asia Pacific which it is hosting in November. Mr Modi is most likely to travel to Beijing to attend the conclave.
In a meeting that went much beyond the scheduled time last evening, the two leaders touched all issues of bilateral, regional and international importance and established “a personal rapport” with each other. During the meeting, that lasted for about 80 minutes, Mr Modi raised the issue of unfavourable balance of trade with China, and Mr Xi acknowledged india’s concern over the matter and said it was possible to enhance trade from India in the services sector and have more Chinese tourists visiting India. In this connection, Mr Modi once again raised the demand of India for opening an alternative route to Kailash Mansarovar, which was accepted by China. The two leaders discussed trade and civilisational linkages, and Mr Modi laid special emphasis on deepening the economic linkages between the two countries. The Chinese President also accepted Mr Modi’s invitation to visit india in September.
The Chinese President conveyed to India that his country wanted a deeper Involvement of India in the SCO. Mr Modi also said that his country was ready for an enhanced role in SCO.
The Prime Minister also raised the boundary issue with China and stressed the need of resolving the matter and maintaining peace and tranquillity on the border. “It was a very warm and substantive meeting that augers well for both India and China,” Ministry of External Affair spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said here while briefing the media about the meeting.
They also discussed the menace of terrorism and Mr Modi said that India and China Should both work together to address the issue. Mr Modi in the beginning of the meeting referred to the speeches of Mr Xi before he assumed his present office and Mr Xi also showed familiarity with Mr Modi’s speeches when he was Gujarat chief minister. “Both were very well prepared that helped them break the ice. Before moving on to the agenda.” Later replying to a question, Mr Akbaruddin said that India attached great importance to the invitation to attend the epic meeting and it will take a decision on this keeping in view the high significance of the invitation.
(UNI)
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