New Delhi : All substantive issues of interest, including the festering border issue, between India and China will be on the table during talks between visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sep 18, the external affairs ministry said Monday.
Briefing the media ahead of the much-anticipated visit of the Chinese president, the external affairs ministry spokesperson, in answer to a question whether the border question and Tibet would figure in the talks, said “all substantive issues of interest” to India and China will be on the table.
Modi as a special gesture will receive Xi when he arrives at his hotel in Ahmedabad Sep 17, the spokesperson said.
Xi will be accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, two senior members of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the state councilor and ministers of foreign affairs and commerce, the spokesperson said.
Modi will host a dinner on the Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad for XI Sep 17, after which the two leaders will travel to Delhi for the substantive meetings the following day.
While in Ahmedabad, the two leaders will witness inking of agreements and both will spend some time at the Sabarmati ashram, the spokesperson said.
On Thursday, Xi will be received by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Modi and Xi would hold talks in Hyderabad House, following which there would be a joint media interaction.
Among those who would call on Xi Sep 19 would be Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, before he leaves.