INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping came together with other heads of state and government at the Brics leaders'
retreat late in the evening Tuesday but suspense remained over whether the two leaders will have a bilateral meeting on the margins of the
summit."PM, alongwith other Brics leaders will deliberate (at the retreat) on global developments and leveraging the Brics platform to find
solutions to global challenges," tweeted the MEA spokesperson, along with a photo of all the leaders, including Modi and Xi, standing
together.They were expected to share the stage also at the Brics business forum meeting, which was addressed by Modi, but Xi skipped the
event and instead sent his commerce minister Wang Wentao to represent him
Official sources did not rule out photo ops or even casual talks between the two leaders but were not forthcoming about a structured
bilateral meeting, something which Xi and Modi have not had for almost four years
Modi is scheduled to have five bilateral meetings on April 24, the last day of the summit, including with the leaders of Iran, Ethiopia and
Mozambique but the government has not revealed the names of the remaining two countries with whom he will have a formal meeting on Thursday
Official sources said a few bilateral meeting were likely to take place on Wednesday too
Modi will address the closed and open plenary sessions of Brics on Wednesday and attend the dinner by South African President Cyril
In between, he will have time for a few bilateral meetings, according to officials
The recent military talks failed to resolve the deadlock in eastern Ladakh but the positively worded joint statement, ahead of Brics and
also the G20 summit, has raised hopes of a bilateral meeting between the leaders
Modi and Xi came together also in Samarkand last year for the SCO summit but there was no bilateral meeting even though the summit took
place barely a week after India and China resolved the standoff at the Gogra friction point
They did have a fleeting conversation later on the sidelines of the G20 Bali summit, as confirmed by India 8 months later, in which they
agreed there was a need to improve bilateral times
While Xi hasn't confirmed his visit to India yet for G20, the Indian government does expect him to participate.
