(MENAFN- The Peninsula) the Indian prime minister rolled out the red carpet for Xi Jinping in his hometown yesterday, as the Chinese president began a maiden visit with Asia's rival superpowers seeking to reset relations.
Narendra Modi pulled out all the stops for Xi, organising an intimate riverside dinner in Ahmedabad, the main city in his home state of Gujarat, where giant billboards in Chinese, Gujarati and English welcomed him.
With both sides eager to emphasise cooperation over competition, Xi said in an article published yesterday "the world's factory and the world's back office" made a winning combination, welcoming Indian businesses to China and pledging vital funding for infrastructure development.
Xi will hold official talks today with Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee when the two sides will sign a string of agreements expected to include nuclear cooperation.
Yesterday's agenda was deliberately informal, including a visit to the former hermitage of independence hero Mahatma Gandhi and a riverside stroll. Modi escorted Xi through a photo exhibition on Gandhi's life.
Modi rounded off the day by hosting a private dinner for the Chinese president and his wife at the Sabarmati Riverfront Park. The day also marked Modi's 64th birthday. A staggering 150 Gujarati dishes were on the menu for the dinner, prepared by a team of experts from different parts of Gujarat and Taj Hotel teams from Mumbai and Delhi.
The two leaders later left for Delhi.
Border issues are on the agenda for the visit of Xi amid reports in India of new Chinese incursions along the de-facto frontier.
More than 200 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army last week entered what India considers its territory, and used cranes and bulldozers to build a 1.9-km road, according to reports. The armed forces of the two sides held a flag meeting at the border yesterday to resolve the stand-off.
The number of alleged Chinese intrusions stood at 334 as of August, Indian government figures showed, while the total for all of 2013 was 411, according to Indian media reports. In 2010, India reported 228 alleged incursions.
But both sides say they want to focus on economic cooperation, with India seeking Chinese funding for an overhaul of its dilapidated railways and cooperation in nuclear energy.
"China-India relations have become one of the most dynamic and promising bilateral relations in the 21st century," wrote Xi in the article in The Hindu daily.
China is India's biggest trading partner, with annual two-way commerce of more than $65bn. But the trade deficit with China has soared to over $40bn from $1bn in 2001-02, Indian data shows.
Experts said China would seek to allay Indian concerns over the widening deficit as it tries to cement its relationship with its western neighbour at a time of heightened tensions with Japan and several Southeast Asian nations over disputed sea territory.
China's consul-general in Mumbai, Liu Youfa, told the Times of India ahead of the visit that Xi would "commit investments of over $100bn", noting this was triple the sum pledged by Japan during Modi's visit earlier this month.
India and China signed several agreements yesterday, including one to set up a Chinese-backed industrial park in Gujarat.
Indian and Chinese companies, meanwhile, inked 24 preliminary deals worth $3.43bn in sectors from aircraft leasing to telecoms.
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