New Delhi
India and China on Friday embarked on deeper engagement for its people across various sectors a move the leadership on either side hoped would usher greater understanding and impetus to bilateral relationship of the two ancient civilisations.

Taking forward the Wuhan spirit, both countries held the first High Level Mechanism meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj co-chairing with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. Both sides identified 10 areas culture, youth, films and television, sports, tourism, museums, traditional medicines, yoga, education and sister-cities for cooperation and exchanges as a way forward.

On his part, Wang noted the formal launch of HLM is to translate the vision of President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived during the Wuhan summit. He said it would help consolidate public opinion in both the countries, which should form a strong foundation to develop bilateral ties further.

Stating that the HLM recognises culture and people-to-people exchanges as an important aspect of the bilateral relations between two ancient civilisations and neighbours, PM Modi in his message said the joint effort could be a source of energy to take the development partnership to new heights.

President Xi, in his message, said ties are moving forward with mutual political trust, deepening, practical cooperation along with coordination in regional and international affairs. It has been proved through practice that good bilateral relations benefit not just the two countries but the whole world, he said. In her address after the two-hour meeting, Swaraj said both India and China represent a third of human race, are fast-growing economies and neighbours, which makes the relationship special.

The minister also touched upon India racing to be a $5 trillion by 2025, while China is the number two economic power in the world. While both have different political systems, the objectives are common. These include raising standard of living of its people, remove poverty, health for all, skill youth, increase capacity of industries, and achieve manufacturing that takes both countries at the top in world economy.