India, China to organize events to mark International Yoga Day

Welcoming the collaboration between the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Yunnan National University, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Premier Li Keqiang on Friday agreed to work together to successfully organize events related to International Yoga Day, which falls on June 21 this year.

Both leaders also attended a Yoga-Taichi joint demonstration event here today.

They also noted that enhanced exchanges among education institutions of the two sides will play a positive role in socio-economic development of the two sides and welcomed the signing of the expanded Educational Exchange Programme.

The two nations further expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved in the India-China Cultural Exchange Initiative. The two sides will have the annual exchange of 200 youths from each side in

the second half of this year.

The agreements on establishing a provincial partnership between Karnataka and Sichuan and sister-city relationships between Aurangabad - Dunhuang, Chennai - Chongqing and Hyderabad - Qingdao were welcomed.

With a view to fostering closer dialogue and mutual understanding, the two sides decided to establish an 'India-China Think Tanks Forum', which will meet annually, alternately in India and China.

They also agreed to institutionalize the 'High Level Media Forum' and tasked the Ministry of External Affairs of India and the State Council Information Office of China to convene it on an annual basis, alternately in India and China. The leaders welcomed the establishment of the Center for Gandhian and Indian Studies at Fudan University, Shanghai.