Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China in May this year, said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is on a four-day visit to the country.
"Modiji is going to come in May. I will give them dates today," Swaraj told the media on Sunday (1 February) after addressing Indians in Beijing, reports PTI.
Swaraj's China visit comes days after the country reacted strongly to a joint Indo-US statement during US President Barack Obama's visit to India last week, in which the US supported India's efforts to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
During her visit, Swaraj will hold talks with China on many bilateral and multilateral matters, besides attending the Russia-India-China trilateral meeting on Monday.
On Sunday, she addressed the India-China media forum, in which she made a strong pitch for an "Asian century" that can be realised by enhanced cooperation between the two countries, reports NDTV.
She also spoke about facilitating business ties with India. "We will make it easier for Chinese companies to do business in India and expect that similar encouragement would be given to our companies to expand their business in China," said Swaraj.
Swaraj also held talks with the Chinese government on a second route through Nathu La Pass in Sikkim for Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra. The Chinese government had earlier agreed to open the route in order to ease the travelling experience of the Indian pilgrims.
She is accompanied by the recently-appointed Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and other top bureaucrats of the ministry.
Swaraj will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, apart from holding talks with the Chinese foreign minister.
Swaraj prior to meeting her Chinese counterpart said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China on May this year.
