Xi hails long history of China-India partnership

President Xi Jinping said on Friday that China and India should leverage the high-level cultural and people-to-people exchanges mechanism to help build an even closer development partnership between the two countries.

Xi made the remark in a congratulatory letter to the opening of the first meeting of the China-India High Level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges in New Delhi, the capital of India, on Friday. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also sent a congratulatory message to the meeting.

Noting that China and India both enjoy ancient civilizations as well as long histories and splendid cultures, Xi said the two civilizations have been engaging in close exchanges and mutual learning since ancient times and have jointly made significant contributions to human development and progress.