Article Posted on : - Nov 20, 2011

NEW DELHI (PTI): India and China will hold their Annual Defence Dialogue (ADD) here starting December 9 during which they will discuss resumption of joint army exercises and border issues between the two sides.

"The ADD will be held here in Delhi where the two sides will take a final decision on resuming the army exercise," Defence Ministry officials said on Sunday.

They said earlier the plan was to hold the talks in January next year but then it was decided jointly to hold it in December.

At the talks, the Indian side will be led by Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma whereas the Chinese delegation will be headed by a senior People's Liberation Army official.

The last round of Sino-Indian defence dialogue had taken place in Beijing in January 2010.

Various issues such as the situation along the Sino-Indian border and resumption of exercise between the armies of the two sides will be discussed during the meeting, they said.

New Delhi had suspended military exchanges with China in August 2010 after it refused to grant permission to a senior Indian Army Commander to proceed on an official trip to Beijing.

As immediate fallout of the event, India refused to hold the third round of exercise with China and had put all other military exchanges on hold.

The first two editions of the army to army exercise had taken place in Kunming in China in 2007 and in Belgaum in 2008.

Putting an end to the strained military relations, India had sent its first military delegation to Beijing in June this year.

China also reciprocated by sending its military delegations under a Lieutenant General earlier this month.

The delegation visited important defence installations in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai and held talks with their Indian counterparts including Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Bikramjit Singh.

Meanwhile, India and China will also hold the special envoy level talks on the issue of border management here, before the end of this year.

National Security Advisor (NSA) Shivsankar Menon will be leading the Indian delegation during these talks.