Tamil Nadu’s picturesque seaside town of Mahabalipuram is all geared up to host the second informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping that begins on Friday.

President Xi will land in Chennai in the afternoon and will proceed to Mahabalipuram, 50 km away, amid tight security.

Security has been tightened at Mahabalipuram and Chennai. The state police have deployed thousands of security forces to thwart any untoward incident and over 500 CCTV cameras have been installed at several places.

At least 43 special officers and over 10,000 policemen will be on duty on Friday and Saturday. The 10,000 policemen will stand guard from Chennai Airport to Mahabalipuram alongside the road on Friday and Saturday.

Navy and Indian Coast Guard have deployed warships in view of the informal meeting between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mahabalipuram. Navy warship has been deployed at some distance from shore to provide security from any seaborne threat.

According to reports, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister K Palaniswami and others will receive Xi upon his arrival at the airport.

As part of the welcoming programme, students from schools and colleges and others will stand on the pavements waving Indian and Chinese national flags to greet Xi on his way to ITC Grand Chola Hotel from the airport and from there to Mahabalipuram.

The Chinese President will travel by road in his Hongqi luxury car to the Unesco world heritage site to meet Modi.

The two leaders will have guided tour of three monuments – Arjuna’s penance, Panch Rathas, and the Shore Temple.

While Modi will spend Friday night at Taj Fisherman’s Cove Resort and Spa beach resort near Mahabalipuram, the Chinese President will drive back to the ITC Grand Chola Hotel.

On Saturday morning, Xi will again go to Mahabalipuram by road and have discussions with Modi at the Taj Fisherman’s Cove Resort and Spa.

This is the second informal summit between President Xi and Prime Minister Modi. Their first informal meeting at the Chinese city of Wuhan last year resulted in normalisation of the relations between the two countries after the 2017 Doklam standoff. Today’s visit will focus on the two leaders discussing trade and confidence-building measures (CBMs).

PM Modi will hold one-to-one and delegation-level talks with the Chinese President. Meeting between the two leaders has no specific agenda. The focus of the meeting is on improving people-to-people contacts and on how to maintain peace and tranquillity along on India-China border.

Meanwhile, India has ruled out any scope of discussion between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the Kashmir issue, asserting that all countries, including Beijing, have been told categorically and clearly that abrogation of Article 370 is totally an “internal matter” of New Delhi.

Ahead of the informal summit between the two leaders, China has moderated its stand on Kashmir, saying the issue should be resolved between India and Pakistan through dialogue and consultation.

The meeting between the two leaders would be the third after Modi’s re-election in May. The two had met in Bishkek on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, and in Osaka on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

It will also be their sixth meeting since the Wuhan informal meeting of last year, highlighting the readiness between the two sides to keep up the momentum.