Date:03/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/03/stories/2008090360391300.htm

National

Chinese Foreign Minister to visit India

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi will be paying a three-day visit to India at the invitation of his counterpart Pranab Mukherjee from September 7. Mr. Yang will visit Kolkata and New Delhi.

He is scheduled to inaugurate the Chinese Consulate General in Kolkata. In New Delhi, he will hold delegation-level talks with Mr. Mukherjee and will call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Mr. Yang will then leave for Sri Lanka where he will spend a day interacting with the top political leadership in Colombo. The inauguration of the Chinese Consulate-General is part of the several steps being taken by both countries to strengthen relations especially in the economic arena and people-to-people ties. Mr. Mukherjee visited China in May and inaugurated the Indian Consulate-General in Guangzhou city in south China’s Guangdong Province.

India and China signed a memorandum of understanding for the opening of the Consulates-General in Guangzhou and Kolkata, respectively, during the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao in November 2006. With the inauguration of the Consulate-General in Kolkata, the MoU will stand implemented. It will focus on expanding trade, investment, tourism as well as cultural and educational contacts.