India and China on Saturday signed two memoranda of understanding after talks led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Qingdao.
Beijing agreed to share hydrological information of the Brahmaputra river with New Delhi and agreed to let India export non-basmati rice. The two leaders also stock of the progress in implementing the decisions they had taken at their informal summit in Wuhan in April. This was the second meeting between Modi and Xi this year and the 14th in the past four years.
India agreed to allow Bank of China to open a branch in Mumbai, while the Chinese president accepted Modi’s invitation to attend an informal bilateral meeting in India next year, The Indian Express reported.
“Met this year’s Shanghai Cooperation Organisation host, President Xi Jinping this evening,” Modi tweeted. “We had detailed discussions on bilateral and global issues. Our talks will add further vigour to the India-China friendship.”
The prime minister also met Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the president of Uzbekistan and discussed ways of deepening ties between the two countries. Within hours of his arrival the prime minister had talks with the organisation’s Secretary General Rashid Alimov.
Before leaving for the summit, Modi said he he was “excited to lead the Indian delegation for our first-ever meeting as a full member” of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and said would talk to its leaders about a “wide range of subjects”.
India became a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in 2017. Other full members are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan.
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