(BS)
On the first day of their informal summit in the historical port town of Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday discussed India’s trade deficit with China and the need to enhance bilateral trade, both by volume and value. They also discussed the common challenge of radicalisation and terrorism that the two countries face.
In the wake of recent developments over the Kashmir issue, there were concerns if the two leaders would be able to rekindle the “Wuhan spirit”, a reference to their first informal summit in China in April 2018 that had helped the two Asian neighbours overcome the trust deficit of the 73-day Doklam military standoff.
Briefing the media late Friday evening, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale stressed that Modi and Xi spent “quality time” with each other.Officials highlighted that the two leaders, according to the original itinerary, were supposed to spend six hours over the course of the two-day summit, but spent nearly five hours on the first day itself. The Chinese president landed in Chennai Friday afternoon and then proceeded to the port city of Mamallapuram, some 50 km away.
