Modi to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping, on BRICS sidelines

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Brics Summit in Johannesburg on July 25 in continuation of the “Wuhan spirit” of stepping up their bilateral engagements, officials familiar with the planning of the trip said on Thursday.

Modi will also meet South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, who assumed office in February this year, and is expected to meet Russian president Vladimir Putin, they said. Bilateral meeting with the leaders of the other Brics countries are still being worked out, added one of the officials cited above.

The 10th Brics Summit will be held from July 25 to July 27. Modi will arrive in Rwanda on July 23 for a bilateral visit. He will then be in Uganda for a two-day visit, before arriving in South Africa on July 25.

“The meeting will give an opportunity for both Prime Minister Modi and President Xi to take stock of the ties,” said an official. The “Wuhan spirit” is a reference to the two-day informal summit between Modi and Xi at the Chinese city of Wuhan in April.

India is slated to host China’s defence minister Wei Fenghe in the coming months.

Earlier this month, a 10-member high-level Chinese defence delegation visited the country. They also met the Indian Army’s Sukna-based 33 Corps, which looks after Sikkim, the site of the military stand-off between the two countries in Doklam last year. The two sides are also looking to hold a special representative dialogue on the boundary issue this December.