Xi Jinping in India after 7 years: When will PM Modi meet Chinese President? What is on the agenda

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit India on September 12 to attend the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, the foreign ministry announced on Thursday.

This will be Xi’s first visit to India in nearly seven years.

Xi last visited India in 2019 for an informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mamallapuram near Chennai. The most recent meeting between the two leaders was on August 31, 2025, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China.

Modi-Xi meeting on Saturday

During his visit, Xi is expected to meet Modi on the sidelines of the summit. The meeting is scheduled for 6 PM on Saturday, according to media reports. There has been no official confirmation of the time, though.

Xi’s India visit is expected to be a high-profile diplomatic engagement with implications for the ongoing efforts to stabilise bilateral ties between the two Asian powers as well as for BRICS cooperation amid a volatile global situation, particularly the West Asia conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war, news agency PTI said.

As the current chair of the influential grouping, India will host the 18th BRICS Summit on September 12 and 13 in New Delhi.

Before the 2019 visit, Xi had visited Goa in 2016 to attend the BRICS summit. Xi made his first visit to India in September 2014, when he held extensive talks with Modi. The 2014 visit came during the first terms of both leaders.

India and China to normalise relations

Xi’s forthcoming visit is significant, as it comes amid efforts by India and China to normalise relations after a prolonged freeze following the 2020 Eastern Ladakh standoff.

Ahead of Xi’s visit, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held extensive talks in Beijing last month on the boundary issue, maintaining peace along the border and steps to improve bilateral relations.

During the 25th round of Special Representatives‘ talks held in Beijing on August 25, the two sides reached an eight-point consensus and agreed to advance discussions on an “Early and Substantial Harvest” of boundary delimitation and border management.

Against the backdrop of these substantive discussions on the boundary and wider bilateral issues, a Modi-Xi meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit is expected to be closely watched for indications of the future course of India-China relations.

What is on the agenda?

The discussions are expected to cover a wide range of shared interests, including expanding intra-BRICS trade, strengthening payment systems, boosting cooperation in science and technology, addressing climate change, and coordinating positions on major international issues.

Xi will be accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising government officials and top business leaders. Both sides have rolled out a series of confidence-building measures over the past year to repair ties frayed by the more than four-and-a-half-year military standoff in eastern Ladakh.

In their talks, Modi and Xi are expected to review the overall situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and explore additional avenues, including expanding trade and investment ties, as part of efforts to normalise bilateral relations, people familiar with the matter said.

Key platform for emerging economies

The New Delhi BRICS summit will bring together the world’s major emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, with multilateral cooperation expected to remain at the core of the grouping’s agenda.

BRICS has evolved into a key platform for emerging economies to advocate for greater representation in global governance, reform international financial institutions, strengthen trade and investment links, and advance sustainable development goals.

Xi’s participation underscores Beijing’s continued commitment to the BRICS framework and its role in shaping a more inclusive global order, officials in China were quoted as saying by news agencies.