Had an extremely fruitful meeting with President Xi Jinping. Our talks included the full spectrum of India-China re… https://t.co/h0tAgsHY0F — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 1560428743000

BISHKEK: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday raised the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terror during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO summit and made it clear that Islamabad must take concrete action against terrorism affecting India.Giving details of the meeting, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said " PM Modi told Xi Jinping that Pakistan needs to create atmosphere free of terror and at this stage we do not see this happening."PM Modi reminded the Chinese president that India has made efforts for peace and these efforts have been derailed. "We expect Pakistan to take concrete action," PM Modi told Xi.The Prime Minister stated that India's position has been consistent that it wants peaceful relations with Pakistan, the foreign secretary said.PM Modi's comments came ahead of President Xi's meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is also here in the Kyrgyz capital to attend the SCO summit.Imran Khan has twice written to Prime Minister Modi, seeking resumption of dialogue on all issues, including Kashmir.Responding to Khan's overtures, Prime Minister Modi told his Pakistani counterpart that creating trust and an environment free of violence and terrorism was essential for fostering peace and prosperity in the region.India has not been engaging with Pakistan since an attack on the Air Force base at Pathankot in January of 2016 by a Pakistan-based terror group, maintaining that talks and terror cannot go together.PM Modi also invited Xi Jinping to India for the second informal summit, an invitation which the Chinese president accepted.PM Modi described his meeting with Xi Jinping "extremely fruitful"."Had an extremely fruitful meeting with President Xi Jinping. Our talks included the full spectrum of India-China relations. We shall continue working together to improve economic and cultural ties between our nations," Modi tweeted after the delegation-level talks with President Xi.The meeting began with President Xi congratulating Prime Minister Modi over his election victory."After the election results in India, I got your message, and today again you have wished me on the victory, I am very grateful to you for this," Modi replied.Xi had extended "heartfelt congratulations" to Prime Minister Modi for winning the Lok Sabha elections last month, in a rare gesture of greeting a foreign leader well before the official announcement of the results."On behalf of all Indians, I wish you a very happy birthday," Modi told Xi, greeting the Chinese leader who will turn 66 on June 15."As you said, in the days to come, we both can progress on several subjects. We both have a contemporary tenure to work more," he said."After our meeting in Wuhan, we have seen a new momentum and stability in our relations. There has been a rapid progress in the strategic communication between the two sides, leading to be more sensitive towards each other's concerns and interests. And there have been new areas for further cooperation since then," Modi told Xi in his opening remarks.The 2018 Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi was largely credited to have turned around the bilateral relations soured by the 73-day Doklam standoff, triggered by Chinese troops attempts to build a road close to Indian border in an area also claimed by Bhutan in 2017.After the Wuhan summit, both the countries stepped up efforts to improve relations on different spheres including the military-to-military ties.The two leaders have met more than 10 times in the last five years, including thrice after their informal summit in Wuhan -- first at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit held in June last in China's Qingdao, the second time at the BRICS summit in South Africa's Johannesburg in July and third time in December last on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Argentina.External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the two leaders had a warm meeting. "Leaders discussed all aspects of enriching our bilateral relations and recognised the positive role of strategic communication in deepening our partnership," Kumar said.(With inputs from agencies)Read this story in Marathi