Several ministerial engagements planned ahead of Xi-Modi informal summit: Diplomat

Speaking to reporters here on the sidelines of an event held on the sidelines of the 2019 'China International Big Data Expo', Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Beijing, Acquino Vimal said the Indian foreign minister will visit China this year, but the venue and agenda of the ministers' meeting are yet to be finalised.

Indicating a second informal meeting between Modi and Xi later this year, he said, a series of engagements were planned between the two countries prior to the high-profile summit.

"We will have many ministerial-level engagements before the high-level meeting," Vimal said in this southwest Chinese city.

"There is a proposal to have a visit that is definitely there for this year and we will have to actually prepare for this...and that will be done by various other ministerial-level engagements," he said.

Modi and Xi met on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires in November last year.

The two leaders met twice after their informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late April 2018 - once at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit held in June in China's Qingdao and the second time at the BRICS summit in South Africa's Johannesburg in July.

"Both sides (India and China) are very keen to engage...and so much can be done between the two countries," Vimal said.

"The main meeting will be of the foreign ministerial level and we are going to have the next high level mechanism on people-to-people exchange between India and China," he said.

President Xi on Thursday skipped protocol and congratulated prime minister Modi even before the formal declaration of the results of elections held in India .

Xi vowed to work with Modi to take the bilateral ties to a new height. He also expressed satisfaction at the strong momentum of development in India-China relations in recent years with the joint efforts of both the sides.

In the letter, President Xi noted the great importance he attached to the development of India-China relations.