Beijing: China said on Tuesday its Foreign Minister Wang Yi will discuss with the Indian leadership this week how to make the G20 summit in Hangzhou and the BRICS summit in Goa successful besides carrying forward the consensus reached by both nations to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation. “As the two largest developing countries and emerging markets, China and India will respectively hold the G20 Hangzhou Summit in September and the BRICS Summit in October,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a statement.
“During the visit, discussion about the two important summits will be on the top of the agenda for the purpose of building up consensus and making the summits successful,” she said about Wang’s upcoming visit to New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take part in the G20 summit to be held in China’s Hangzhou city in the first week of next month followed by President Xi Jinping’s participation in the BRICS summit in Goa in October.
According to Indian officials in Beijing, Wang will arrive in India on August 12 on a three-day visit. He is due to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj and on August 13 is likely to call on Modi. Both sides are expected to have candid discussions over China blocking India’s bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and New Delhi’s move to bring about a UN ban on leader of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad terror group, Masood Azhar.
“To become closer partners of development is a direction set by leaders of China and India. During his visit to India, Foreign Minister Wang Yi will also communicate with the Indian side about how to carry forward consensus between the two leaders and enhance mutually beneficial cooperation in different fields in a bid to make sure that the relationship will keep growing as planned,” she said. About the state of bilateral ties, Hua said China-India relationship has been developing fast and sound in all aspects following Xi’s visit to India in 2014 and Modi’s visit to China last year.
“The two countries enjoy in-depth pragmatic cooperation, and ever thriving people-to-people and cultural exchanges. China and India have identical strategic goals and their common interests far outweigh differences,” she said. “Mutually beneficial cooperation and common development of the two countries will not only benefit the two peoples but also contribute to stability and growth of the region and beyond,” she said.