New Delhi (Sputnik) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit currently underway in South Africa.
The Indian prime minister and Chinese president met in South Africa and reaffirmed their readiness to enhance collaboration between their militaries and to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas as agreed during the Wuhan informal summit.
Always a delight to meet President Xi Jinping. Our talks were fruitful and will add vigour to the ties between India and China. pic.twitter.com/M5g914ZS5x
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2018
India Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media that Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi had a very fruitful meeting.
"Both leaders made a reference to their informal summit meeting in Wuhan in April as well as the subsequent follow-up meeting in Qingdao in June. They were particularly satisfied with the efforts being made by the officials of the two sides to strengthen bilateral engagements and to implement some of the understandings and decisions that the two leaders had reached at Wuhan," Indian Foreign Secretary told the media.
Taking forward the spirit of cooperation following Summit meetings in Wuhan and Qingdao, PM @narendramodi had a substantive meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Johannesburg on the sidelines of #BRICS Summit. Discussed steps to further build trust & cooperation. pic.twitter.com/S8JlIqpy1w
— Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) July 26, 2018
The Indian prime minister also expressed his willingness to send National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to China later this year for border talks.
This was the third meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping this year. The first meeting was an informal summit in Wuhan, China, in April and the second meeting happened on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit at Qingdao, China, in June.