Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have held their first bilateral meeting since a border standoff.

Their meeting at the Brics summit in China's port city of Xiamen came just days after the two countries resolved the three-month border dispute.

According to Chinese state media, Mr Xi told Mr Modi that "healthy, stable" China-India ties were necessary.

This was Mr Modi's last engagement before an official visit to Myanmar.

In a meeting that lasted over an hour, Mr Xi called for putting its bilateral relationship with India on the "right track", reported Xinhua, China's official news agency. The Doklam border standoff and reported clashes between the Chinese and Indian army had strained diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Mr Modi congratulated Mr Xi on a "very successful" execution of the three-day Brics summit, in a show of conciliatory support between the two leaders.

At a media briefing, India's Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said that the two countries would move forward with mutual respect. He made a reference to a June meeting between the two leaders, held in Kazakhstan's capital city of Astana, where both countries reached a consensus that India and China must not allow differences to become disputes.

"Both sides agreed that there should be better communication and co-operation so that such occurrences don't happen again," Dr Jaishankar told reporters.

The Brics summit brings together the world's five large non-Western economies - the other members are Brazil, Russia and South Africa - who are seeking a greater say in world affairs.

Economic ties were the focal point at the three-day gathering which began on Sunday. Both North Korea's nuclear test and the border standoff between China and India were also discussed.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by BBC NEWS

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