50-Minute Meeting: PM Modi, Xi Jinping Stress On Stable Bilateral Ties For Global Peace

New Delhi: It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first bilateral meeting in five years.

The meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS Summit at Russia’s Kazan on Wednesday, lasted around 50 minutes, reported ANI.

The two leaders agreed that a “stable, predictable and amicable” bilateral relationship between New Delhi and Beijing will have a positive impact on global peace and prosperity.

PM Modi said it was important to not allow differences between the two nations to disturb peace and tranquility in the border region.

PM Modi welcomed the “consensus” reached between the two countries at the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, after a four-year stand-off following the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020, and said maintaining peace should be the “our priority”.

The Indian PM also made the point to the Chinese President that mutual respect and sensitivity should be the basis of bilateral relationship.

In a post on X, Modi wrote that mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity will “guide” bilateral relations.

“Met President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Kazan BRICS Summit. India-China relations are important for the people of our countries and for regional and global peace and stability. Mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity will guide bilateral relations,” the Indian PM posted along with pictures from the meeting.

The Chinese Premier said it was important for India and China to have more communication and cooperation to properly handle ;differences and disagreements’.

“It’s the first time for us to have a formal meeting in five years. Both, the people in our two countries and the international community, are paying great attention to our meeting. China and India are both ancient civilisations, major developing countries, and important members of the Global South. We are both at a crucial phase in our respective modernisation endeavours. It best serves the fundamental interests of our two countries… For both sides, to keep to the trend of history and the right direction of our bilateral relations, it’s important for both sides to have more communication and cooperation, properly handle differences and disagreements, and facilitate each other’s pursuit of development aspirations,” Jinping said.

“It’s also important for both sides to shoulder our international responsibility, set an example for boosting the strength and unity of developing countries, and to contribute to promoting multipolarisation and democracy in international relations,” he added.

Modi assured Jinping India’s full support to China’s Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) presidency next year.