Indian NSA Ajit Doval And Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Conclude Twenty-First Round Of Border Talks

India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met with China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi for the 21 round of Border talks at the Sichuan province in China on Saturday, reports the Hindu.

Officials said the designated representatives for the border talks between the two Asian countries would review the progress since bilateral talks at the Wuhan Summit, earlier in April.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang announced the talks on 21 November while describing the situation of the bilateral ties as ‘stable’. H said,“we have properly managed the differences through dialogue and consultation. The border areas on the whole maintained stability”.

According to the officials, the twenty-first round of talks will focus on reviewing the progress of trade and maintenance of peace at borders, rather than moving towards a solution of the border dispute as India will have general elections in April-May, 2019.

Earlier during the “informal summit” between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Wuhan, the countries had launched the dialogue to increase India's exports to China to reduce the trade deficit.

Officials add, since then, India has been progressing towards increasing export of rice, sugar and pharmaceuticals. The negotiations are of high importance for both the nations since the representatives will cover all aspects in the bilateral ties, except the dispute of the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control border.

Previously, On 13 November, the ninth India-China Annual Defence and Security Dialogue was held in Beijing, where senior defence officials of India and China showed agreement over strengthening defence exchanges and interactions.