At the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of Government of India, Chinese Governmental Cultural Delegation headed by Mr. Zheng Xinmiao, Vice Minister of Culture, paid a 7-day visit to India from April 16 to 23, 2003.

During the visit, the Vice Minister of China met with his counterpart Mr. Dhanenhur Kumar, Secretary of the Department of Culture of India, and held talks with him on cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and India. Mr. Zheng also exchanged views and ideas with his counterpart on the CEP (Executive Programme of Cultural Exchanges Between China and India for 2003-2005) and agreed that the details of the relevant clauses of the CEP should be finalized through diplomatic channel.

Mr. Zheng Xinmiao also paid a courtesy call on Dr. Najam Heptulla, Deputy Chairman of  Rajya Sabha and President of ICCR. Mr. Zheng conveyed the invitation of Mr. Sun Jiazheng, Minister of Culture of China, to Dr. Najam Heptulla to attend the 7th China Arts Festival which would be held in the next October in Hangzhou, China. Dr. Heptulla expressed her sincere thanks for the invitation and recalled her visits in China. She also expressed her willingness to strengthen cultural relations between the two countries and noted that cultural exchanges plays a very important role in promoting all-round  relations between the two countries.

During the visit, the Delegation visited Mumbai, Aurangabad,  Delhi and Agra. In Mumbai, Mr. Zheng attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the “World Heritage in China” Cultural Week activities.