President Xi Jinping on Wednesday said that China and India should maintain a sound strategic perception of each other and work together to find the "right and bright path" for big, neighbouring countries to live in harmony and develop side by side, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

In his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS Summit in the Russian city of Kazan, Xi said that China-India relations are essentially a question of how the two large developing countries and neighbours, each with a 1.4-billion-strong population, treat each other, it added.

Development is now the biggest shared goal of China and India, he said, adding that the two sides should continue to uphold their important understandings, including that China and India are each other's development opportunity rather than threat, and cooperation partners rather than competitors.

Xi urged China and India to "maintain a sound strategic perception of each other, and work together to find the right and bright path for big, neighbouring countries to live in harmony and develop side by side," the news agency reported.

This was their first meeting in five years.

The Chinese news agency claimed that both leaders agreed to prevent specific disagreements from affecting the overall relationship. The two leaders were of the view that their meeting is constructive and carries great significance.

They agreed to view and handle China-India relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, and contribute to maintaining regional and global peace and prosperity and to advancing multiplicity in the world, the news agency said.

Earlier state-run CGTN quoted Xi telling Modi that India and China should strengthen communication and cooperation and properly manage their differences and disagreements.

Xi said China and India should facilitate each other's pursuit of development aspirations.

The meeting took place against the backdrop of the two countries reaching an agreement to resolve the over four-years-long military standoff at eastern Ladakh, which resulted in the freezing of the ties.

Xi said that as time-honoured civilizations, large developing countries and important members of the Global South, China and India both stand at a crucial phase of our respective modernization endeavours.

The best way to advance the fundamental interests of the two countries and two peoples is for both to keep to the trend of history and the right direction of bilateral relations, he said.

He said the two countries should shoulder their international responsibility, set an example in boosting the strength and unity of developing countries and contribute to promoting a multipolar world and greater democracy in international relations, the CGTN report said.

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