Beijing and New Delhi are arranging for a bilateral meeting between President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said in Beijing on Friday, as Xi is set to travel to India to attend a Brics summit this weekend.

A meeting would mark the third consecutive year in which Xi and Modi meet, following their talks in Kazan and Tianjin, said Mao Ning at a regular news briefing.

She said China stands ready to work with India to follow the strategic guidance of the two leaders, view bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, strengthen communication, expand cooperation and properly handle differences, so as to be good-neighbourly friends and partners helping each other succeed.

Xi will attend the 11-member Brics summit, address the event and have in-depth exchanges with leaders on the current international situation, she said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on Friday and was followed hours later by his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, for a summit set to be dominated by wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as economic challenges.

Putin and Pezeshkian were due to hold talks with Modi.

For Xi, it will be his first visit to India since 2019 and marks the biggest step yet in a cautious thaw between the neighbours that has seen flights, visas and high-level contacts gradually being restored.

Brics, created in 2009, now includes Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – three countries with sharply differing positions on the war launched by the United States and Israel in February.

"The Gulf conflict is going to be the central fault line this time during the Brics summit," said Harsh V Pant of India's Observer Research Foundation. "What was seen until last year as an achievement – the expansion of Brics – today looks like a big constraint on Brics."

"The war in Iran will provide a stern test of the [expanded] group's cohesion," said Shilan Shah of Capital Economics, noting the failure of the Brics foreign ministers to agree on a joint statement when they met in New Delhi in May.

The summit is being held on Saturday and Sunday at the capital's Bharat Mandapam convention centre amid heightened security measures.

Around 15,000 police personnel and 200 companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed, India's state-run broadcaster All India Radio quoted Manish Kumar Agrawal, special commissioner of police of the protective security division, as saying.

Traffic on key roads may be temporarily halted or diverted, and government and private schools have been shut. (Agencies)


Edited by Edmond Fong