Modi, Xi meet, take stock of developments post Wuhan

By Gaurav Sharma

Qingdao (China), June 9 (IANS) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on Saturday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit here and signed deals on Beijing sharing Brahmaputra river data with New Delhi and India's export of rice to China.

The two leaders took stock of the developments of Sino-Indian relations after their ice-breaking summit at the Chinese central city of Wuhan in late April.

Xi and Modi had agreed to maintain peace along their 3,448-km-long disputed border over which the two countries went to war in 1962.

"Further strengthening the positive momentum in the bilateral relationship generated at the Wuhan informal summit, PM Narendra Modi had a warm and forward-looking meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO Summit," India's External Affairs Ministry's spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

"Memorandum of understanding was signed between Ministry of Water Resources, the People's Republic of China, and Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, the Republic of India, upon provision of hydrological information of the Brahmaputra river in flood season," the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The agreement enables the Chinese side to provide hydrological data in flood season from May 15 to October 15 every year. The article also enables the Chinese side to provide hydrological data if water level exceeds mutually agreed level during the non-flood season."

China had withheld the river data of Brahmaputra to India last year after Indian and Chinese military faced off at Doklam over a road being built by Beijing in the area.

"The 2006 Protocol on phytosanitary requirements for exporting rice from India to China has been amended to include the non-Basmati rice," the statement said.