External affairs minister Jaswant Singh on Sunday left for the gleaming east China metropolis Shanghai, concluding two days of productive talks here with the Chinese leadership.
“I have had a very productive and comprehensive round of meetings and talks with the Chinese leadership,” Singh said before winding up the first leg of his five-day official visit to China.
Singh would spend two days in Shanghai, China's trade and industrial hub. He is scheduled to address scholars at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies on Monday. He said that the framework for a comprehensive dialogue on all issues of mutual concern has been put in place for the first time during his visit and this could lead to a qualitative change in India-China bilateral relationship.
Singh, who travelled to Beijing on the inaugural new Delhi-Beijing flight on Friday met Chinese premier Zhu Rongji and vice premier Qian Qichen and held wide-ranging talks with his Chinese counterpart Tang Jiaxuan.
Singh, also a senior BJP leader, had a meeting with the minister in the international department of the ruling Communist Party of China Dai Bingguo on Friday and discussed strengthening party-to-party relationship.
The substantive decisions taken during Singh's visit included accelerating the process of demarcation of the Line of Actual Control and the initiation of the first-ever bilateral dialogue mechanism on counter-terrorism.
China also announced that India would be an approved destination for Chinese tourists, enhancing people-to-people contacts that would go a long way in improving mutual understanding and trust. Bureau Report