Eight young adults from China and India gathered for a wide-ranging discussion on ways in which China and India can learn from each other at the China-India youth talks on Saturday.

The participants have either lived or studied in both countries and took to the stage to share their stories and insights into the future of the China-India relationship.

"If young people of both China and India have good relations that means the future between the two countries will be bright. So I value this kind of event very much, I think there should be more like this, just to facilitate the exchanges between the two countries, to remove misunderstanding and misconceptions between the two peoples," said Mao Keji, a research fellow at the National Development and Reform Commission.

"To facilitate such exchanges, I think probably both government can do more, build better platforms, no matter from schools, or different industries. Once such platform is there, the youth from the two countries will be able to share their thoughts more freely and to understand each other better," said Lin Sheng, vice president of the Mumbai branch of the Bank of China. 

In recent years interactions between the people of the two countries have increased, according to Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong, who sent a message through video. The two sides organize two-way youth exchanges of 200-member delegations every year. Both governments have provided scholarships and encouraged academic and cultural cooperation. Currently, over 20,000 young adults from India are studying in China, and nearly 2,000 Chinese are studying in India.

For China and India which are two populous countries with combined population of more than 2.5 billion, it seems there is more room for the two countries' people-to-people exchanges, especially youth exchanges.

Prasanna Shrivastava, the political counsellor of Indian Embassy In China, said at the event that people-to-people exchanges are a priority for the two governments. 

A high-level mechanism for cultural and people-to-people exchanges was established based on the consensus of the two leaders during the Wuhan Informal Summit in April last year.  

The talks were organized by the China Plus and the Hindi service of China Media Group. 

(Cover: Eight youths shared their stories and insights at the China-India Youth Talks 2019. /CMG Photo)