Modi, Xi hold informal summit to ‘solidify’ ties
Modi invites Xi for 2019 summit in India
On the first day of the two-day Sino-Indian informal summit at the top leadership level in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the centuries-old SinoIndian ties, telling Chinese President Xi Jinping that the two countries have a “big opportunity” to work together for the benefit of their people and the world.
Mr Modi also offered to host the next informal summit with President Xi in India next year, a proposal which elicited a positive response from the Chinese President.
The “heart-to-heart” summit at Wuhan is being seen as an effort by India and China to “solidify” their relationship and rebuild trust that had been hit by the Doklam standoff last year. Mr Modi arrived in the central Chinese city early Friday for the summit, began talks soon after Mr Xi received him with a warm handshake and hosted a grand welcoming ceremony for him at the Hubei Provincial Museum.
Wuhan, April 27: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday gifted to President Xi Jinping the paintings of a famous Chinese artist who taught in Visva Bharati University in West Bengal.
Modi presented Xu Beihong’s paintings to Xi during their informal summit here. Xu was known for his Chinese ink paintings of horses and birds. He was one of the first Chinese artists to articulate the need for artistic expressions that reflected a modern China at the beginning of the 20th century.
The paintings depicted a horse and sparrows on grass.
Xu made those paintings during his stay in Visva Bharati, officials said. The paintings were specially ordered by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) for the summit.
Xu met luminaries such as Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi during his stay in India.