Sushma Swaraj to begin China visit Saturday

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will Saturday embark on a three-day visit to China, where she will also attend a Russia-India-China meeting, an official statement said Friday.

During the visit, India and China would discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of their concern.

Sushma Swaraj is visiting China on the invitation of her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

She will be accompanied by Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and other senior ministry officials. This will be Jaishankar's first foreign trip after he assumed charge as the foreign secretary Thursday.

The external affairs minister will attend the 13th Foreign Ministers' Meeting of Russia-India-China Trilateral and will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the meeting.

She will also inaugurate the 2nd India-China High-Level Media Forum and attend the launch of Visit India Year.

Ahead of the visit, Chinese Ambassador to India Le Yucheng met Jaishankar Friday.

Talking to reporters after the meet, Le said: "(Am) privileged that I am the first ambassador to meet S. Jaishankar after he was appointed foreign secretary."

He said they discussed bilateral relations and Sushma Swaraj's visit.

"We talked about the agenda, the possible outcomes of this visit," he added.