India and China held the 35th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China Border Affairs in Beijing on May 27.
The Indian delegation was led by Joint Secretary (East Asia) Sujit Ghosh, while the Chinese side was headed by Hou Yanqi, Director General of the Boundary and Oceanic Affairs Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the discussions were constructive and forward looking. The two sides reviewed the situation in the India-China border areas and expressed satisfaction with the progress made in maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas, which has enabled progress towards gradual normalization of bilateral relations.
The two countries also discussed issues pertaining to delimitation, border management, mechanism building and cross-border cooperation. Indian side stressed on early meeting of the next Expert Level Mechanism on Trans-border Rivers.
India and China agreed to maintain regular exchanges and contacts at the diplomatic and military levels through mechanisms including those that were agreed as part of outcomes of 24th Special Representatives (SR) Talks.
The two sides also agreed to work together to make substantive preparation for the next meeting of the SR, to be held in China.
During the visit, Indian delegation leader Sujit Ghosh also met Liu Jinsong, Director General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and paid a courtesy call on Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hong Lei.
