Speaking at a banquet hosted by Yunnan governor Qin Guangrong, Krishna invited him to visit Bangalore and Kerala to further extend the bonds between the Chinese province and India. Yunnan, the extreme south-western province of China, has a co-operation agreement with West Bengal and its capital city Kunming has a flight connecting Kolkata.

Sister city request

Krishna added that Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, has been connected with Bangalore through a direct flight.

Reacting to a request made by the governor, who is expected to move up in the Chinese Communist party hierarchy, that ‘sister city’ relationship should be established between Kunming and Kolkata, Krishna said it would be considered. Krishna referred to improvement of relations between India and China and said there was need for more Indian students to study in China.

 “While we have one lakh students each studying in Australia and USA, the number is negligible in China and we should bestow special attention to this issue,” he added. Qin said there was need to further strengthen relationship between Yunnan and West Bengal and urged Krishna to help open a consulate general’s office in Kunming.