First meeting of India-China high-level mechanism on cultural and people-to-people exchanges to take place on Dec 21

The meeting will be co-chaired by the External Affairs Minister Smt. Sushma Swaraj and Wang Yi, State Councillor and Foreign Minister of China, who will be paying an official visit to India from Dec 21 to 24, 2018.

The decision to establish the India-China High Level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges was taken during the Informal Summit between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jinping in Wuhan in April 2018.

The High Level Mechanism reflects the desire on both sides to build greater synergies in the people-to-people ties between the two countries through enhanced exchanges in areas such as tourism, art, films, media, culture, sports and academic and youth exchanges, read a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs.

The High Level Mechanism will bring all the existing bilateral cultural and people-to-people engagements between India and China under one umbrella and, thus, add more substance and purpose to the efforts on both sides to promote greater cultural and people-to-people exchanges between them.

Several side events will also be held around the meeting of the High Level Mechanism, including an India-China Think Tanks Forum and a High Level Media Forum.