File photo of PM Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. (PTI)
In a push on the foreign front, PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are all set for an informal summit in October as India proposes a reply to the Wuhan summit, sources familiar with the development said. The first informal summit between the two leaders took place in Wuhan in China’s Hubei in April 2018. The two leaders then spent two days at a lakeside guest house in Wuhan and held discussions for almost 10 hours.
Sources said continuing the informal interaction between the leaders was decided at Wuhan itself. Earlier, November was being targeted for the meeting but it was later decided that September/October would be better.
Sources had earlier said that much would depend on who the next Prime Minister would be and with Modi’s thumping return to power, the informal summit would continue as both leaders share a personal rapport.
The PM’s then statement had said: “You invited us for the first summit and today that dream has come true and I am happy that this informal summit will develop in to a regular practice and I would be delighted to get an opportunity to host such an informative summit in 2019 on the soil of India.”