Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin separately on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek but not with his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan.
The meeting with Xi was his first after his re-election and came a month after China lifted its technical hold on a proposal of the UN Security Council’s sanctions panel that sought to designate Pakistan’s Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, which helped blacklist him.
Briefing the media later, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said there was a brief discussion on Pakistan with Modi raising the issue of cross-border terrorism. “Pakistan needs to create an atmosphere free of terror, but at this stage we do not see it happening. We expect Islamabad to take concrete action” to resume talks, Gokhale quoted him as telling Xi.
“Had an extremely fruitful meeting with President Xi Jinping. Our talks included the full spectrum of India-China relations. We shall continue working together to improve economic and cultural ties between our nations,” Modi tweeted after the delegation-level talks with Xi.
Modi and Xi have met more than 10 times in the last five years, including thrice after their informal summit in Wuhan. Gokhale said Xi concurred with Modi that both sides need to raise “our expectations from the relationship”.
Xi confirmed his readiness to visit India this year for the next informal summit. The two sides also agreed to celebrate the 70th anniversary of their diplomatic ties in a fitting manner by holding 70 events - 35 each in both countries, Gokhale said.The meeting with Putin came in the backdrop of India being warned by the US over military ties with Russia, especially the SS-400 Triumpf deal.
“We had wide-ranging discussions on ways to further boost the India-Russia strategic relationship. We look forward to increased trade and people-to-people linkages with Russia,” Modi later tweeted.
Modi also warmly accepted Putin’s formal invitation to be the main guest at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia in early September, Gokhale said. By doing so, he sought to strengthen India’s presence on the global stage. “We will do serious preparation on our side so that the participation at the EEC is meaningful,” Modi told Putin.
There will also be a Russia, India and China trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Osaka, Japan later this month. Gokhale described the meeting with Putin as “brief but very very rich” in terms of content. Defence and energy were key focus areas.
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