External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during a joint press statement in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi held extensive talks here on Friday under a newly-established framework and agreed on “ten pillars” of cooperation to enhance cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

Mr Wang said he had a “very successful” meeting with Ms Swaraj under the new “High-Level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges” that was decided upon during the Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping. Mr Wang arrived here early on Friday morning.

“India-China relations have reached a new historical stage,” he said at the inaugural session of the 3rd India-China High-Level Media Forum. Ms Swaraj, in her remarks, said she was satisfied with the outcome of her two-hour dialogue with Mr Wang, during which they discussed ways to expand cultural and people-to-people ties. She said India and China had agreed on “10 pillars” of cooperation  to enhance cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

The 10 pillars are cultural exchanges, cooperation in films and television, cooperation in museum administration, cooperation in sports, exchanges between youth, cooperation on tourism, exchanges between states and cities, and cooperation in traditional medicine, yoga and education.

Bilateral cooperation had improved significantly after the Wuhan Summit, Ms Swaraj said, noting that the two countries’ militaries were also enhancing cooperation.   Mr Wang described the new mechanism for cultural and people-to-people exchanges as a “major initiative” in the history of India-China ties.