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NEW DELHI. — Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit India later this year as the new Hindu nationalist leader extended another olive branch yesterday to one of New Delhi’s traditional rivals. The invitation was made during a phone call between the newly-elected Modi and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang in which both premiers expressed a desire for stronger ties, India’s foreign ministry said.
Their conversation came only two days after Modi held landmark talks with Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister of India’s other nuclear-armed neighbour, Pakistan.
“Prime Minister Modi extended through Premier Li an invitation to President Xi Jinping to pay a visit to India later this year,” said a foreign ministry statement.
Li conveyed the “Chinese government’s desire to establish robust partnership with the new government of India for further development of relations between the two nations”, the statement added.
Modi said he wanted to work closer with the Chinese government to deal with any “outstanding issues in our bilateral relations” and “welcomed greater economic engagement between the two countries”.
The last visit from a Chinese head of state to India was made by Xi’s predecessor Hu Jintao in 2012 when Manmohan Singh was in power.
Modi, leader of Bharatiya Janata Party, took office on Monday after winning a landslide election victory that swept the Congress party from power after 10 years of rule. — AFP.
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