In a major breakthrough, India and China signed a record 24 agreements worth $10 billion on Friday. The agreements include those of education, railway cooperation among others. It was also announced that the second route for the Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra will become operational next month, allowing more Indians to undertake the pilgrimage. Other key agreements are on developing China-India think tanks, maritime cooperation and ocean sciences. Four agreements were signed on sister-State and sister-city relations between Karnataka and Sichuan province; Chennai and Chongqing; Hyderabad and Qingdao; and Aurangabad and Dunhuang.
The agreements were signed on the second day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China. Modi arrived on Thursday in Xi’an where he held summit-level talks with President Xi Jinping. He then moved to Beijing where he held wide-ranging parleys with his Chinese counterpart li Keqiang on Friday. Modi, who reached Shanghai late on Friday for the third and final leg of his three-day China visit, will meet with CEOs of top Chinese companies and a number of agreements worth $10 billion are expected to be signed.
Modi will also address the Indian community here before leaving for Mongolia on the second-leg of his three-nation tour that will also take him to South Korea. Earlier in the day, addressing a gathering at the Tsinghua University, Modi pitched India as the next frontier of “economic revolution.” He said that his Government is doing away with “unnecessary regulations,” building a predictable tax regime and creating a liberal environment for foreign investments. India is also scaling up investments in next generation infrastructure — roads, ports, railways, airports, telecom, digital networks and clean energy, he said.
He also assured investors that land Acquisition laws will neither be allowed to hinder growth nor become a burden on farmers. Addressing a gathering at the Tsinghua University here, Modi said: “We are eliminating unnecessary regulations and simplifying our procedures. We are using digital technology to eliminate multiple approvals and endless wait.”
“India is now the next frontier of the economic revolution. We have the demography for it. About 800 million people in India are below the age of 35 years. Their aspirations, energy, enterprise and skills will be the force for India’s economic transformation. We now have the political mandate and the will to make it happen.”
later he held wide ranging talks with Chinese counterpart li Keqiang. During his media address after talks with li, Modi said he has “stressed the need for China to reconsider its approach on some of the issues that hold us back from realising the full potential of our partnership. I suggested that China should take a strategic and long term view of our relations” and added that he found the Chinese leadership “responsive”.
A joint statement issued after the talks said the two sides “will resolve outstanding differences in a proactive manner” and their “differences should not be allowed to come in the way of continued development” of bilateral relations. In a joint Press conference with li Keqiang after the signing of the deals, Modi said, “We have a historic responsibility to turn this relationship into a force of good.” Protocol for setting up Consulates-General at Chengdu and Chennai besides an MoU on consultative mechanism for cooperation in trade negotiations were among the 24 agreements signed.
An action plan between the Indian Railways and China National Railways on enhancing cooperation in the railway sector was also signed. An MoU on education exchange programme and ‘Space Cooperation Outline’ were also signed. An agreement on setting up a Mahatma Gandhi skill centre in Ahmedabad was also signed besides a broadcast tie-up for Doordarshan and China’s state-run CCTV.
Agreements on education exchange programme, on mining and minerals, skill development, tourism and vocational education also figured on the list. Two MoUs between Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Yunnan Minzu University and another with Fudan University were signed on the establishment of a Yoga college and centre for Gandhian and Indian studies, respectively.
Modi, also announced that the second route for the Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra will become operational next month, allowing more Indians to undertake the pilgrimage. “The Nathu la route for Indian pilgrims to visit Kailash Mansarovar will become operational in June. I want to thank China for that,” the Prime Minister said in his address here after 24 agreements were signed between India and China.
The second route through the Himalayan pass of Nathu la, 4,000 metres above sea level, will allow more Indians to undertake the pilgrimage, in addition to the existing lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand. The only route - lipulekh Pass - was badly damaged in the floods in Uttarakhand in 2013. The route through Nathu la Pass will facilitate comfortable travel for Indian pilgrims by buses, especially for elderly Indian citizens, though conditions in the Himalayan region with less oxygen levels still pose a challenge.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping also in the joint statement appealed to developed countries to take the lead role in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and provide finance and technology to developing nations for mitigation purposes. Noting that bilateral partnership on climate change is “mutually beneficial”, the two nations also decided to boost cooperation in clean energy technologies, energy conservation, renewable energy and sustainable transportation among others.