No agreements to be inked during Modi- Xi informal summit

ANI
09 Oct 2019, 18:33 GMT+10

New Delhi [India], Oct 9 (ANI): When Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet in Chennai from October 11-12 for the second informal summit between India and China, there will no specific agenda.

No Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs), agreements or joint communiques are likely to be signed during the meeting.

Government sources have told ANI that the complexion of the informal meeting between the two leaders would mostly be similar to the first one, held in April 2018.

Even if there is no specific agenda, the objective of the unstructured meeting would be to exchange views on regional and global issues, find a broad pathway on bilateral relations, and discuss ways to build better connect between the two countries.

Issues pertaining to trade, increased market access for products like soybean and non-basmati rice, as well as terrorism, sourcing, financing and origins of terror are expected to come up during the talks.

The Chinese President will arrive in New Delhi on Friday afternoon. Modi will take the visiting President to the world heritage site at Mahabalipuram. Later in the day, he will host a special dinner for Xi, while a cultural show will also be held.

This is the third meeting between Xi and Modi after the latter was elected for the second term in May, and sixth since the Wuhan informal talks.

The two leaders will hold one on one and delegation-level talks at a sea resort near Chennai.

The Indian Prime Minister will be accompanied by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and EAM Jaishankar, while Polit Bureau Member and Chinese Foreign Minister will accompany Xi.

On the issue of Article 370, sources have said that India has clearly told all countries, including China, that the move on Kashmir is its internal matter and "There is no question of discussion. In case China wants any details, the Indian leadership can be briefed." (ANI)