Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their much-anticipated bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the ongoing BRICS Summit in Russia on Wednesday. Prime Minister Modi, reiterating India’s stance on the need for stability along the border, emphasized that maintaining peace in the border regions should be a top priority for both nations.
“We welcome the consensus reached on the issues that have arisen in the last four years on the border. Maintaining peace and stability on the border should remain our priority,” PM Modi said in the bilateral meeting.
JUST IN:
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Modi hold a bilateral meeting at BRICS Summit, the first in five years.
This follows a historic agreement between the two countries to end their border crisis. pic.twitter.com/JXBvr5XZSc
— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) October 23, 2024
PM Modi took to X (formerly Twitter) to emphasize the significance of India-China relations for both nations and the broader global community. “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,” PM Modi wrote.
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. pic.twitter.com/tXfudhAU4b
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 23, 2024
During the meeting, President Xi stressed the importance of India and China properly managing their differences and enhancing mutual cooperation. Addressing PM Modi, Xi emphasized that both countries, as leading emerging economies, have a responsibility to work collaboratively on the global stage.
According to Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, the leaders emphasized that stable relations between India and China, as the world’s two largest nations, would contribute positively to regional and global peace and prosperity.
Both leaders highlighted the importance of addressing each other’s concerns and aspirations with respect and maturity. They stressed that the restoration of peace and tranquillity along their shared border is key to bringing their diplomatic relations back on track.
In addition to discussing bilateral ties, PM Modi and President Xi explored ways to enhance collaboration within BRICS, acknowledging the potential for the two nations to work closely on multilateral platforms. PM Modi also assured Xi of India’s full support for China’s upcoming presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in 2025.
#WATCH | Kazan, Russia: On PM Modi’s bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri says, “…The two leaders also reviewed the state of bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective. They were of the view that stable… pic.twitter.com/5UM8Z6Catn
— ANI (@ANI) October 23, 2024
The meeting of the two leaders come in the wake of the two sides reaching an agreement on patrolling along their disputed border. The agreement on patrolling arrangements on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), announced by India on Monday, had raised the possibility of the first formal interaction between Modi and Xi since their brief encounter on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali in November 2022.
Both the leaders are currently in Russia’s Kazan, where Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazil’s Lula da Silva, and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa are also attending the summit.
