PM Modi, Xi Jinping Interact Informally At BRICS Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who witnessed the landing of Chandrayaan-3 virtually from South Africa was seen having an informal conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the BRICS Summit on Thursday.

Although the conversation between the two leaders is not clear, but reportedly PM Modi might have a bilateral meeting with the Chinese President before leaving the Summit.

However, this is not the first time that the two leaders have interacted with each other. Last year both leaders had interaction during the G20 Summit. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, PM Modi and the Chinese President had discussed border issues during the Bali Summit.

For the last four years since the clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers in Galwan Valley, PM Modi and Xi Jinping never had any bilateral meetings.

On the final day of the Summit, PM Modi is scheduled to engage in five bilateral meetings. He is all set to meet the leaders of Iran, Ethiopia, and Mozambique. However, the government has kept the names of the other two countries under wraps.

According to a joint statement issued before the BRICS summit, a bilateral meeting between PM Modi and Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit in Delhi is quite possible. Although the Ministry of External Affairs and the Prime Minister's Office did not disclose any plan for the meeting between the two leaders.

Reacting to PM Modi's bilateral meeting with the Chinese President, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Monday while addressing a press conference gave a cryptic reply that the Prime Minister's bilateral meetings are being finalised.

However, if both leaders hold a bilateral meeting, then it would be the first meeting post the Indo-China clash in 2020.