LAC breakthrough paves way for meet between Modi, Xi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet tomorrow at Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said on Tuesday.

Answering questions on the patrolling agreement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) announced yesterday, Misri said, “We hope and we will make efforts to see that the patrolling arrangements have a built-in mechanism to prevent clashes. We have to keep making constant efforts in this direction.”

Asked how the LAC understanding was reached, Misri said, “We can do an analysis later. Let us first implement the agreement on the ground.”

On the next steps that included de-induction and de-escalation of troops, he said, “We have to first focus on disengagement. The matter of de-induction and de-escalation (of troops from the LAC) will be discussed at the right time.”