PM Modi all set to welcome President Xi Jinping in Mahabalipuram for second India-China informal summit

New Delhi: The second informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will take place in Tamil Nadu's Mahabalipuram on Friday. President Xi, who will reach Chennai in the afternoon, is on a two-day visit to India and the focus will be on deepening India-China Closer Development Partnership.

The upcoming informal summit will provide an opportunity to the two leaders to continue their discussions on overarching issues of bilateral, regional and global importance and to exchange views on deepening India-China Closer Development Partnership, the Ministry of External Affairs had said in a statement.

PM Modi and President Xi will meet in Mahabalipuram, the place which has a strong connection with China.  

The second informal summit comes just two days after President Xi remarked during a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan that "China is closely following the situation in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K)." 

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The first summit between PM Modi and President Xi took place in Wuhan, China, in the backdrop of the Doklam crisis of 2017 and leaders of both India and China had given strategic guidance to the forces of both the countries so that there is not a repetition of the Doklam crisis. The focus of 2019's informal summit will also be to strengthen the momentum generated from the last year's summit. 

President Xi is scheduled to arrive in Chennai at around 2 pm and will depart for Mahabalipuram at around 4 pm. An hour later, PM Modi will give the Chinese President a guided tour of the three important UNESCO world heritage sites - Arjuna's Penance, Panch Rathas and Shore Temple. 

In the evening, both the world leaders will see cultural performances at the Shore Temple followed by a dinner hosted by PM Modi.

On Saturday (October 12), President Jinping and PM Modi will meet again the Taj Fisherman’s Cove Resort for lunch, following which, President Xi will leave for Nepal, the first visit by a Chinese President to the country in decades.