New Delhi, September 9 – Chinese President Xi Jinping will start his upcoming tour of India from Gujarat where he would be received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi will receive Xi at the Ahmedabad airport on September 16. Xi will be hosted at the hotel Hyatt in the city, a report said.
On September 17, which happens to be Modi’s birthday – two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) will be inked between Gujarat and China. One will be between the Gujarat government and the province of Guangdong in South China.
The other MoU will be signed between the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMU) and the city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, for knowledge sharing in the areas of governance, the report said. Xi will visit India, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and the Maldives from next week to bolster the country’s relations with South Asia and Central Asia.
Xi, also the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China, will attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and visit four countries later this month, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang announced on Tuesday.
National Security Advisor Ajith Doval is currently in Beijing holding talks with the Chinese officials to finalise Xi’s programme in India.
Besides finalising the schedule, Doval’s visit is expected to focus on the political aspects of Xi’s tour, including issues related to the boundary dispute and new routes for Kailash and Manasarovar Yatra.
Yang is China’s Special Representative for boundary negotiations held two rounds of talks with Doval’s predecessor, Shivshankar Menon. The two sides held 17 rounds of talks and reached a stage to focus on the framework to resolve the dispute.
The next stage was stated to be exchange of maps about the mutual perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Both the countries have signed Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) last year to ensure peace and tranquillity at the LAC pending the settlement of the border dispute.
-INDIA TODAY
