President Pranab leaves for China

May 24, 2016 10:00

R Rajagopalan/Rediff.com reports: President Pranab Mukherjee set off on a four-day visit to China today with an aim to further broaden ties between the two Asian economic giants as he will deliberate on a range of key issues including the contentious ones with the Chinese leadership.

Mukherjee is likely to raise the issues of China blocking India's bid to get a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar and its stand that New Delhi must sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to get membership of the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group. The lingering boundary issue may also figure in talks.

The President will be meeting his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Premier Le Keqiang and other top leaders.

This will be the first visit of Mukherjee to China as President though he had visited the country a number of times in different capacities. The last Presidential visit to China was by Pratibha Patil in 2010.

Ties between the two countries have been on an upswing since Xi's landmark India visit in September, 2014 during which both countries had signed 12 agreements and China pledged an investment of USD 20 bn in India's infrastructure sector.

Additional Inputs: Agencies

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