Nitin Gadkari to visit China

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari will leave for Beijing on Jan 20 on a goodwill visit to China at the invitation of the Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party.

The five-day visit is aimed at promoting party-to-party contact at the highest political level, the party said in a statement.

This will be the first ever visit to China by any BJP president.

The party chief will be accompanied by his wife Kanchan Gadkari and a delegation of senior BJP leaders.

The Chinese ambassador to India Zhang Yan last night hosted a dinner in honour of the BJP president and the delegation accompanying him to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Speaking on the occasion, Yan said that the Chinese government and the ruling Communist Party of China are attaching great significance to this first ever visit to china by any BJP President.

?It is an extremely important visit for us and we will accord Mr Gadkari a very warm welcome in China?, the Ambassador said.

Gadkari said that he was looking forward to studying the recent developments in China in various fields including the new energy development and recycle project in rural areas, bamboo products enterprise and agricultural products processing enterprise.

?I am very keen to visit the local neighborhood community to learn about the party building at grassroots level in China?, the BJP president said.