Chinese Foreign Minister to visit India; will hold talks with Modi, Sushma Swaraj on Sunday

New Delhi: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is coming to New Delhi as Special Envoy of President Xi Jinping, will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj on Sunday.

The Chinese leader, who is visiting to formally establish contacts with the NDA government and deepen ties between the two countries, is likely to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi the same day.

The Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry said since Parliament was in session, the ministry will try to complete all the meetings on Sunday itself.

The Ministry had earlier said, "The objective of the visit is to establish contact with the new Government of India. The visit is an important element of the Year of India -China Friendly Exchanges and will provide further momentum to the India-China Strategic and Cooperative Partnership."

China has expressed keen interest in establishing high- level contacts with India's new leadership at the earliest to step up engagement in political, trade and economic areas.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was the first foreign Head of Government to call up Mr Modi after he took over as Prime Minister. The Chinese Prime Minister had conveyed his government's desire to establish robust partnership with the new government during a call to Mr Modi, who expressed keenness to work closely to deal with any "outstanding issues".

During the call, Mr Modi had noted that China was always a "priority" in India's foreign policy and welcomed greater economic engagement between the two countries.

China has already conveyed its interest in having a top Indian leader attend the 60th anniversary of Panchasheel, the five principles enunciated jointly by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his then Chinese counterpart Zhou Enlai in 1954.

China is hosting a function to mark the occasion on June 28 in which a high-level delegation from Myanmar, which too was associated with Panchasheel concept, is expected to participate.

China had already conveyed to India President Xi's wish to visit New Delhi. Mr Xi and Mr Modi will have an opportunity to meet during the next BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit to be held in Brazil in July.

Chinese leadership shared familiarity with Modi as he visited China four times during his long tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat. His victory in the general elections was widely welcomed in the Chinese official media.