1. Ambassador Vijay K. Gokhale paid an official visit to Hangzhou (Zhejiang) and Shanghai from 8-11 November, 2016.  During the visit to Hangzhou, Ambassador called on H.E. Mr. Xia Baolong, Communist Party Secretary of Zhejiang and discussed ways and means to further strengthen bilateral cooperation with India.  Ambassador congratulated Zhejiang leadership for the successful hosting of the G20 Summit and complimented them on the excellent arrangements made for the visit of the Indian delegation led by Prime Minister of India.

2. Ambassador also requested Zhejiang leadership to encourage leading companies from Zhejiang to take advantage of the opportunities available under the Make in India programme and increase their investments in India. Party Secretary Xia Baolong welcomed the proposal and it was discussed to learn from Zhejiang’s best practices in waste water management, which could be subsequently implemented in Indian urban centres. As a follow up, a delegation from India is expected to visit Zhejiang to learn from Zhejiang’s waste water management and inland riverine transport.

3. Separately Ambassador also visited the Lingyin Temple, Fei Laifeng Pagoda and had an interaction with artists at the Kaiming Art Gallery in Hangzhou on the afternoon of 9^th November.

4. During the Shanghai leg of the visit, Ambassador called on H.E. Han Zheng, Party Secretary, CPC, Municipal Committee of Shanghai on 11^th November forenoon and had an all round discussion on further deepening economic engagements between Shanghai and India. Party Secretary Han Zheng conveyed his thanks to Indian Government for all the arrangements made for his visit to India earlier in May 2016.  Ambassador requested Party Secretary to encourage leading companies from Shanghai to invest in India as several new initiatives were presently underway to improve the urbanization and infrastructure in India.  Both sides reiterated that there was a heightened increase in frequency and exchanges at the highest level of leadership and this had led to a corresponding deepening of economic engagements. Recalling the establishment of Sister City relationship between Shanghai and Mumbai, Party Secretary Han Zheng added that he was looking forward to the upcoming visit of Chief Minister of Maharashtra to Shanghai.  In addition, it was also discussed to jointly organize befitting celebrations of the 3^rd International Day of Yoga in Shanghai in June 2017.

5. During the Shanghai leg of the visit Ambassador also had separate interaction with representatives of Indian industry and Indian bankers at the Consulate premises. Ambassador also interacted with leading scholars from Fudan University, Tongi University, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies and Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences over a working luncheon at Consulate.  Earlier in the forenoon of 11^th November Ambassador also interacted with Dr. Yang Jiemian, President Emeritus, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies and discussed issues of bilateral importance between India and China.  In addition, Ambassador also visited the premises of SAP Shanghai, wherein a briefing on the present state of operations of SAP in India and China was provided.

CGI Shanghai
November 11, 2016