Peace and tranquillity are “important prerequisites” of continuous development of bilateral ties between India and China, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Friday. She was speaking after a two-hour meeting with Wang Yi, her counterpart from Beijing.
“Our defence forces are trying to firm up bilateral ties and are focussed on implementing confidence-building measures. These steps will help in maintaining peace and tranquillity in our border areas...,” she said.
Ms. Swaraj pointed to the benefit drawn from frequent meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping. The two met earlier this year at Wuhan for an informal summit.
“We have laid out an ambitious agenda for the next year and we are confident that the visit by President Xi Jinping for the second informal summit will add another new facet for our bilateral ties,” the Minister said.
She indicated India’s readiness to host the second edition of the informal summit that was decided in Wuhan.
Ms. Swaraj highlighted the growing trade deficit as a matter of concern for Delhi, and expressed satisfaction at the steps China had taken to reduce the imbalance.
The concerns were raised at the end of bilateral discussion held during the first high-level mechanism for people-to-people exchanges.
Ms. Swaraj said that the parties identified 10 areas such as films, media, sports and tourism that would be in focus to facilitate greater relationship between the people of both countries.
Laying out Beijing’s plans, the Chinese Minister said heritage protection, academic exchanges and language teaching would be among the priority areas.
