This was his eighth meeting with Xi as prime minister.”China is willing to work with India to maintain their hard-won sound relations and further advance their cooperation”, President Xi told Modi.
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“He (Modi) said it is of paramount importance that both countries respect each other’s aspirations, concerns and strategic interests”, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup told Indian journalists here, reports the IANS. “It is something that both sides are aware of”, Swarup said.
“Modi also said, We need a regular dialogue between the IMF, Regional Financial Arrangements and Bilateral Swap Arrangements”.
On Saturday, Modi and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed 12 agreements following a morning of discussions.
India has also asked China to get rid of the technical hold it has at the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee and support the country to clamp down on terrorism from Pakistan.
“We are determined to encourage connectivity between North East India and ASEAN and I have announced a 1 billion dollars Line of Credit for India-ASEAN physical and digital connectivity”, said Prime Minister Modi.
The Prime Minister also referred to the recent passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, which, he said, could further boost trade and investment ties with the UK. “Those who sponsor and support terrorism must be isolated and sanctioned, not rewarded”, Modi said in his intervention during the concluding session of the meeting of the world’s 20 strong economies.
India had already signed an agreement to build offshore patrol boats for Vietnam, as part of the steps to give concrete shape to bilateral defence engagement. An editorial in Global Times, China’s government controlled newspaper, said that India risked irking its neighbours like China and Pakistan.
“The framework agreement on space cooperation would allow Vietnam to join hands with Indian Space Research Organisation to meet its national development objectives”, he said.
Ngan said that she would be visiting India in December.
In addition, Vietnam and India put priorities on cooperation in atomic energy, science-technology, education, healthcare, culture, tourism, people-to-people exchange, enhancement of aviation and navigation connectivity, among others.
He emphasised that India has a policy of zero tolerance to terrorism.
This would be followed by a meeting of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) leaders ahead of the G20 summit, which would begin later in the day.
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India and Vietnam on Saturday called for a reform of the United Nations and an expansion of the Security Council in both the permanent and non-permanent categories of membership, with enhanced representation from developing countries.
