Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit on Wednesday.

The meeting followed an agreement earlier in the week between the two countries on patrolling a remote disputed border in the Himalayas, four years after a military standoff heightened tensions between the two.

In June 2020, 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed in a hand-to-hand skirmish. 

Both countries stationed tens of thousands of troops along their disputed frontier in the northern Ladakh region following the violence.

Modi and Xi tout mutual trust and respect in meeting

"India-China relations are important for the people of our countries, and for regional and global peace and stability. Mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity will guide bilateral relations," Modi tweeted after meeting Xi.

"The two sides should strengthen communication and cooperation, properly handle divergences and differences, and realize each other's development dreams," state broadcaster CCTV reported Xi as saying. 

Modi and Xi had previously spoken briefly on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali in November 2022 and exchanged courtesies. 

They spoke again on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in August 2023 but ended up releasing different versions of the conversation, indicating the two sides didn't see eye to eye.

Xi skipped the G20 summit hosted by New Delhi the following month, a decision seen as another setback to their relations. 

Russia, holder of the rotating BRICS presidency and heavily sanctioned by the West, is using this year's summit to demonstrate its role as a key global player in part by bringing together the leaders of the world's two most populous countries.

Putin says 'multipolar order' in the making

Putin said on Wednesday that "over 30 countries have expressed the desire" to join the bloc which welcomed new members in 2023. All six countries officially joined the bloc earlier this year.

"The process of forming a multipolar world order is underway, a dynamic and irreversible process," Putin said at the opening of the summit in Kazan on Wednesday.

"It would be wrong to ignore the unprecedented interest of the countries of the Global South and East in strengthening contacts with BRICS," Putin told leaders.

Putin also said the grouping would also discuss "acute regional conflicts," meaning the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

India's Modi says BRICS ready to face global challenges

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in remarks that the bloc "represents 40% of the world's humanity and about 30% of the economy."

"BRICS has achieved many things in the last two decades. I am confident that in the coming times, this organization will emerge as a more effective medium to face global challenges," he said.

Modi also said he welcomed efforts to increase financial integration among members of the grouping. "Trading in local currency and easy cross-border payments will strengthen our economic cooperation," he said.

Russia has specifically pushed for BRICS countries to build an alternative platform for international payments that would be immune to Western sanctions. Russia was kicked out of the international SWIFT payment system following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

rm/lo (Reuters, AFP, AP)