New Delhi, October 11: Chinese President Xi Jinping, who arrived in India today for a two-day informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, spent nearly "5 hours of quality time" with the Indian PM, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a late-night press briefing on Friday. Apart from discussing the historical and contemporary ties between India and China, the two leaders also deliberated on key issues including trade and terrorism, said Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale. Malappuram Summit: Mutton, Lobster in Dinner For Xi Jinping Hosted by PM Narendra Modi.

The discussion on terrorism assumes significance as New Delhi has recently been using multilateral platforms to condemn Pakistan's support for "cross-border terrorism" in Jammu & Kashmir and other parts of India. This is in continuation with Modi's speech in presence of US President Donald Trump last month, where he called for a "decisive fight" against terrorism.

Significantly, the deliberation over terrorism comes in the backdrop of China reportedly giving credence to Pakistan's allegations of rights' violation in Kashmir. Two days before Xi's visit to India, the international media reported him as telling Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan that Beijing is "closely watching" the situation in J&K.

Update by ANI:

Gokhale said Modi and Xi discussed "the challenges that both countries face on account of terrorism, that radicalisation is matter of concern for both."

"And both would work together to see that radicalisation and terrorism did not affect fabric of our societies," the Foreign Secretary further added.

Apart from terrorism, Modi also expressed India's concern to Xi on the "unbalanced trade" that exists between the nations. Successive regimes in New Delhi have attempted to cut down on the trade deficit with China, which has been widening due to the ever-expanding import volume which is not keeping in pace with the Indian exports to Beijing.

"There was some discussion on trade related and economic issues. And how to enhance the trade volume and the trade value. It also included the issue of the trade deficit that exists and the unbalanced trade that exists," Gokhale added.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 12, 2019 12:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).