Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Hamburg, Germany. The two leaders will not hold any bilateral meeting amid tensions between India and China over the Dokhlam standoff in Sikkim.
PM Modi wished Jinping ahead of the summit and also assured that India would fully cooperate with China over the conflict in Sikkim.
At the informal meeting of BRICS leaders in Hamburg, the Prime Minister praised Jinping saying that there had been a "positive momentum in BRICS" under the "chairmanship" of Jinping and also conveyed his "best wishes" for the "upcoming BRICS Summit" in Xiamen.
President Jinping also lauded India's strong resolve to fight against terrorism and also the momentum introduced at the BRICS Summit in Goa in 2016 under India's chairmanship.
"At BRICS leaders' informal gathering in Hamburg, PM Modi and Chinese President Xi had a conversation on range of issues," Gopal Baglay, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs told the media on Friday.
This was the first meeting between the two leaders amid the Sikkim standoff.
PM Modi urges G20 countries to fight against terrorism
PM Modi on Friday urged all G20 nations to "come together to fight against terrorism."
"BRICS has been a strong voice and needs to show leadership on terrorism and global economy. G20 should collectively oppose terrorism financing, franchises, safe havens, support and sponsors," PM Modi said at the informal meeting of all BRICS leaders.
PM Modi was welcomed at the G20 Summit in Hamburg by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
At the leaders' retreat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the lead speaker on the theme of terrorism. Speaking of terrorism, PM Modi said, "Terrorism is the biggest challenge of our times. I thank Chancellor Merkel for choosing this topic."
He added that it was "very important to understand terrorism before action." In what could be an apparent reference to Pakistan, PM Modi also said that some countries were using terrorism to achieve political goals. "International response to terrorism is weak," he said adding that names of terrorist organisations may be different but the "ideology is the same."
PM Modi praises GST ahead of G20 Summit
At the informal meet, PM Modi expressed confidence that India's economic growth was surging ahead and that the GDP growth of the country touched seven percent in the recent quarter.
He also spoke about the Goods and Services Tax (GST) introduced by his government saying that the country's economic reform agenda has received a boost with the implementation of the country's biggest tax reform in 70 years.
"The GST is the biggest tax reform in 70 years in India. GDP will expand because of this. It is expected to go beyond 7 percent this time. GST will give a unified market to 1.3 billion people," Modi said at the meet in Hamburg, Germany.
