Modi and Xi Hold Bilateral Talks on the Sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held bilateral talks in New Delhi on Saturday, on the margins of the BRICS summit hosted by India.

The meeting marks Xi's first visit to India in seven years. Relations between the two neighbours have improved since border tensions flared in 2020, though there are still few signs of a recovery in trade and business links.

Opening the talks, Modi thanked China for its support and cooperation during India's BRICS chairmanship and said the two sides now had an opportunity to discuss bilateral cooperation. He extended a warm welcome to the Chinese president.

Xi noted that the two leaders had met more than 20 times over the past 12 years, producing a series of understandings that have guided the steady overall development of China-India relations. He said China has always approached the relationship from a strategic and long-term perspective.

Although the two countries have different national conditions, Xi said, they can draw on each other's strengths, support one another's success and pursue common development.

Describing the international landscape as complex and volatile, Xi said China and India, as the world's two most populous countries and important members of the Global South, carry significant responsibilities. He called on both sides to keep the future of humanity in mind and the well-being of their people at heart, to advance high-quality cooperation, to advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, and to contribute positive energy for world peace, stability, development and prosperity.