A rousing reception awaits Xi in Chennai
As the red carpet is rolled out and the scintillating music and dance of the Tamils fill the air Friday afternoon at the airport here, Chinese President Xi Jinping will arrive from Beijing by his special aircraft to begin his second informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Most of Chennai, particularly the roadsides on Xi's 'sterilised' passage from the airport to ITC Grand Chola, where he will be staying during this sojourn, and the OMR that the Chinese convoy of bullet-proof Presidential car will take to reach host Modi waiting at Mamallapuram, has been decorated with welcome banners and colourful festoons to greet one of the most powerful leaders in the world. Predictably, the civilian traffic will be badly hit in this part of South Chennai during Xi's drive from the airport to ITC Grand Chola and thereafter from the hotel to the rendezvous with the Indian PM at Mamallapuram in the evening.
There has been a slight change in the time of arrival of President Xi; his plane will land at around 2.10 pm at the old airport, instead of the 1.30 pm scheduled earlier. Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami will receive the dignitary with welcome flowers while a brief song-dance performance by folk artistes will lighten up the formal event.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi would arrive at the old airport by a special IAF flight at around 12.30 pm and will take a chopper to reach Thiruvadanthai on ECR from where he will reach Taj Fishermen's Cove at Kovalam, by a bullet-proof car. This luxurious beachside resort is the venue of the informal summit on Saturday. This entire stretch of the beach - right from Chennai to Mamallapuram and a little beyond - besides parts of Chennai and the IT Corridor on the OMR, have been brought under thick security blanket and 24x7 police scrutiny.
The airspace at Chennai will be closed for all aircraft during the movement of the Modi-Xi flights during their arrival and departure; airspace over Mamallapuram too will be banned for civilian aircraft overflying during the presence of the two dignitaries on Friday.
President Xi will be treated to a glimpse of the rich cultural traditions of India and Tamil Nadu as over
5,000 students from various schools and colleges will be brought to put up folk and other traditional dance performances at about 35 spots along the five-km stretch from the airport to the hotel and later in the evening, along the 50-km long OMR that his convoy will take to reach Mamallapuram, the famous Unesco heritage site. The IT corridor on OMR houses some of the largest software giants in the world.
A grand spectacle of ancient Pallava sculptures embellished by the latest lighting technology awaits President Xi at Mamallapuram, where PM Modi will receive him at around 5 pm. The two leaders will take a stroll, with none accompanying them except the translators, for a tour of three of the awesome monuments - the Arjuna's Penance, Five-Chariots and the Shore Temple. They will then spend about
30 minutes witnessing a song-dance ensemble by the renowned artistes of Kalakshetra.
A special bullet-proof stage has been erected close to the magnificent Bay of Bengal for watching the Kalakshetra ballets and thereafter the private dinner being hosted by PM Modi for his guest. A select guest list has been prepared by the Ministry of External Affairs in consultation with the Prime Minister's Office and the TN Government.
After an early dinner, PM Modi will leave for rest at Fishermen's Cove while President Xi's convoy will hit the ECR-OMR to reach ITC Grand Chola for the night stay.
The two leaders will meet at Fishermen's Cove for high tea at around 10 am, followed by delegationlevel talks that will end with lunch at about 11.45 pm. PM Modi will drive to Thiruvadanthai and take the chopper from there to reach Chennai airport in time to bid farewell to his guest arriving by his car from Fishermen's Cove.
President Xi will leave for Nepal by his special aircraft at 1.30 pm while PM Modi will take his IAF plane back to Delhi at 2.05 pm, according to a release by the Ministry of External Affairs.
The MEA had on Wednesday expressed the hope that the informal summit would “provide an opportunity for the two leaders to continue their discussions on overarching issues of bilateral, regional and global importance and to exchange views on deepening IndiaChina Closer Development Partnership”.