Swaraj, Wang attend cultural evening; watch performances by Indian, Chinese artistes

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi Friday inaugurated a photo exhibition on exchanges between India and China and witnessed dazzling cultural performances by artistes from the two countries.

Swaraj and Wang, who held extensive talks earlier in the day, participated in a cultural evening event here organised as part of the 'High Level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges' that was decided on during the Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping.

Wang, dressed in a light grey traditional 'bandhgala', along with Swaraj first inaugurated the photo exhibition portraying the various facets of enhanced exchanges between India and China at the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra here and then attended the India-China Cultural Evening organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

The two leaders also launched two books -- 'Essays in memory of professor Xu Fancheng' in Chinese and 'Sanskrit on the Silk Route' in English.

Swaraj and Wang also witnessed dazzling cultural shows by artistes from India and China.

While from the Chinese side a ballerina enthralled the audience, from the Indian side women performed the 'Bhartanatyam' to mesmerize the gathering.

An acrobatics act by Chinese artistes and a Chinese juggler also put up exciting performances on stage. From the Indian side, folk daces from Mizoram and Mathura were also performed.

At the end of the event, the two ministers met the artistes.

The India-China Film Festival was also launched at the event. As part of the festival from December 22-24, seven films -- four Chinese and three Indian -- will be screened.

Earlier in the day, Swaraj and Wang held extensive talks under the newly set up framework and agreed on "ten pillars" of cooperation to enhance cultural and people-to-people exchanges.