New Delhi: For the first time in seven years, Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to visit India. He will attend the BRICS Summit. PM Narendra Modi is to meet Jinping on Saturday, sources told HT.
On the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, Modi is likely to hold bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday.
Modi met both Putin and Pezeshkian on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Kyrgyzstan last month. According to reports, Xi had last travelled to India in 2019. He had travelled months before the onset of a military face-off in Ladakh. The conflict had lasted more than four years. Moreover, it took bilateral ties to a six-decade low.
These meetings are being seen as crucial as the leaders will get the opportunities to take stock of bilateral relations and discuss a range of global issues, especially the war in Ukraine and the West Asia conflict, sources said.
The bilateral meeting will provide a chance for both the leaders to assess the ongoing process to normalise India-China relations. They will get a platform to address the long-standing border dispute.
Meanwhile, the first meeting of senior military commanders of both sides in the Arunachal Pradesh sector will be held this week. They will discuss the maintenance of peace and tranquillity on the border.
