Fruitful Results in Xi-Modi Informal Meeting, Chinese Vice FM says

The concluded informal meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has achieved fruitful outcomes, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Saturday.

During the second informal meeting in the southern Indian city of Chennai, Mr Xi and Modi exchanged in-depth views on overarching, long-term and strategic issues of global and regional importance, and agreed to enhance the closer development partnership of the two countries, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui told reporters after the twoday meeting.

The two leaders reaffirmed the consensus reached during their first informal meeting in China’s central city of Wuhan last year that China and India offer each other chances for development, Mr Luo said.

Mr Xi and Mr Modi spoke highly of the development of bilateral ties, agreed to enhance communication in experience of state governance and strengthen synergy of development strategies, and discussed how to deepen bilateral exchanges so as to demonstrate the increasingly important roles of both countries on the world stage, Mr Luo said.

The two leaders agreed that both China and India are committed to building a peaceful, secure and prosperous world, in which all countries can seek development in a world order based on international law, according to Mr Luo. Mr Xi and Mr Modi agreed that a rules-based multilateral trading system should be supported and strengthened, and the two countries will continue to work for open and inclusive trade arrangements that will bring benefits to all countries, Mr Luo said. They said that both countries are committed to combating terrorism in all forms, and called on the international community to strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation, according to Mr Luo. The two leaders agreed that China and India, both important contemporary civilisations with long traditions, should strengthen dialogue, enhance mutual understanding and jointly promote exchanges and understanding among different cultures and civilisations, the Chinese diplomat said.

Mr Luo said that the two leaders agreed to designate 2020 as the China-India year of cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and hold 70 events next year to mark the 70th anniversary of the ChinaIndia diplomatic relations.

The leaders agreed to establish a high-level economic and trade dialogue mechanism between China and India, in a bid to further strengthen bilateral trade and investment cooperation and to promote a balanced development of their economic and trade relations, Mr Luo said.

Mr Xi and Mr Modi reaffirmed that both sides will continue to maintain peace and tranquility in border areas and will work on additional confidence building measures through consultation, while urging the special representatives of the two countries to figure out a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the border issue, according to Mr Luo. They also agreed that informal meetings have provided an important opportunity for the two sides to deepen dialogue and enhance mutual understanding, and that they will maintain such kind of meetings as well as other forms of strategic communication, Mr Luo said.