NEW DELHI – India and China on Saturday agreed on measures to build on theconsensus achieved by their leaders during recent talks in Wuhan, includingthe next informal summit to be held in India in 2019 and steps to maintainpeace along the disputed border.

President Xi Jinping accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation tovisit India for the next informal summit. They also agreed – as decidedduring their first informal summit at Wuhan in April – to maintainstrategic communications through various channels, including telephonecalls and frequent meetings on the sidelines of multilateral events.

Xi’s visit will be preceded by a flurry of high-level meetings this year,including meetings between the foreign, defence and home ministers and thenational security advisers. The Special Representatives on the border issuewill also meet this year.

Following the meeting between Modi and Xi on the margins of the ShanghaiCooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in the coastal city of Qingdao, thetwo sides signed agreements on China providing hydrological information forthe Brahmaputra river and on exporting rice from India.

Describing the nearly hour-long meeting as “substantial” and “forwardlooking”, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said both leaders made a verypositive assessment of developments since they last met in the central cityof Wuhan during April 28-29