Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time since the border skirmish in eastern Ladakh earlier, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Tuesday (November 10).
Modi will lead the Indian delegation at the summit which will be virtually conducted, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Friday.
“The prime minister will lead the Indian delegation at the 20th summit of the SCO council of heads of state which will be held in the virtual format on November 10. The meeting will be chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin,” MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
The prime minister will meet the Chinese President face-to-face at the BRICS meeting on November 17 and for the G-20 summit on November 21-22.
The two leaders last shared a platform on March 26 at a virtual G-20 gathering hosted by Saudi Arabia over the COVID-19 pandemic.
While experts do not see any thawing of the difference between both the sides on the border conflict, a one-on-one interaction is also unlikely on the virtual platform.
Both the SCO and BRICS summits are being chaired by Russia and will be attended by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and Russian President Vladimir Putin among others.
India will also virtually host a summit of the council of heads of SCO members on November 30.
The relations between both the countries became strained due to the border standoff between both their armies in eastern Ladakh. While skirmishes have been happening since May, it escalated in June, when 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a face-off with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley.
While both sides have held several rounds of military-level and diplomatic talks to de-escalate tensions at the border, there has been no breakthrough yet.