India, China put trust on youth to boost bilateral ties

New Delhi, Nov 16 (IANS) India and China on Friday said that youth of the two countries will play a pivotal role in deepening future bilateral relations and enhancing people-to-people ties.

In a message to the India-China Youth Dialogue organised by the Chinese Embassy and the Confederation of Young Leaders (CYL), Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the event offered a unique occasion to the youth of both countries to learn about each other's ancient culture and civilisation.

"It will also provide a platform for the youh of both nations to build a 'Great Wall of Trust and Cooperation' between the two countries," Modi said in his message that was read out at the Chinese Embassy, the venue of the event.

"The synergy between youth will will surely spur enhanced people-to-people contact and lead to increased cooperation between the two countries."

The Dialogue is one of the warm-up steps to the first meeting of the China-India high-level people-to-people and cultural exchange mechanism.

The establishment of the mechanism was a part of the consensus between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Chinese city of Wuhan in April this year.

In his address to the participants of the Dialogue, Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui referred to Modi remarks during his visit to China in 2015 in which he said that India has 800 million youth population.

"Both of us enjoy huge demographic dividend," Luo said.

Stating that in contemporary China, people admire Indians, the Ambassador said that the Chinese people think that every India is either a singer, or a dancer, or an IT expert, or a maths genius.

"Three things are most fashionable among Chinese youth in urban areas, namely, watching Bollwyood movies, practising yoga and tasting Darjeeling tea," he said. 

Stating that China-India relations are at one of the best period in history, Luo said that both sides are implementing the consensus reached by Modi and Xi in Wuhan.

"Last year, the bilateral trade volume reached $84 billion," he said.

"Over 1,000 Chinese companies are doing business in India, creating more than one lakh jobs."

Luo also compared India's Act East Policy with China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) - earlier known as One Belt One Road (OBOR) - something that New delghi has refused to join.

"Right now, connectivity, free trade has become a policy of every country," he said .

The Ambassador also highlighted the fact over 20,000 India students are studying in China. He said that both sides have set up a lot of interaction platforms for youth between the two countries.

"Every year we organise two-way exchanges of 200-member youth delegations," he said.