Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met Chinese President Xi Jinping here and said there has been a "new direction and new energy" in bilateral ties after their second informal summit in Chennai as the two leaders discussed ways to further strengthen India-China relations, including on the trade front.
Modi, who is in Brazil for the 11th BRICS Summit which will focus on building mechanisms for counter-terrorism cooperation and strengthen India's ties with the world's five major economies, met Xi on the sidelines of the meeting, over a month after the two leaders held their second informal summit in India.
Prime Minister Modi told President Xi: "I am glad to meet you once again".
"When I look back, we had met for the first time in Brazil itself... our journey began. The journey of unknown people has today turned into a close friendship. We have since then met in many forums, bilaterals, you visited my home state, took me to your village, you came to receive me outside Beijing in .
