Walk along ancient historical sites help Modi, Xi brave through more recent clouds in ties

Much hope has been generated for the Saturday's one-on-one talks Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and the delegation level parleys after the two leaders in a matured manner moved ahead during their Friday interaction keeping the differences aside.

The consensus in place between the two countries since one-year-and-half as agreed upon at Wuhan in 2018 that differences should not be allowed to turn into disputes was at display on the first day of the Informal Summit between two top Asian leaders.

"The discussion over dinner stressed over 150 minutes and it was well beyond the planned time for conversation. The discussions were very cordial. This was quality time that the two leaders spent," Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters later.

"President Xi Jinping while acknowledging that PM Modi has got a renewed mandate said he was looking forward to work very closely with the Prime Minister on all issues in the next four and four-and-half years," Mr Gokhale said.