NEW DELHI, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Experts in India have lauded the second informal meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing the hope for closer bilateral relations.

　　The informal meeting, held in the southern Indian city of Chennai on Friday and Saturday, came after the first one in central China's city of Wuhan in April last year.

　　During the two-day meeting in Chennai, Xi and Modi exchanged in-depth views on overarching, long-term and strategic issues of global and regional importance, and agreed to enhance the closer development partnership of the two countries.

　　Sudheendra Kulkarni, former chairman of the Observer Research Foundation Mumbai, said the second informal meeting between Modi and Xi has proved to be a big success, building greater mutual trust.

　　Besides other points, it's really important to reaffirm that India-China cooperation is critical for world peace and economic growth, he noted.

　　Swaran Singh, a professor at the School of International Studies of the New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), said if the voice of the tradition of the Orient has to become effective around the world, India and China must speak in one voice.

　　"If they speak in one voice you can see maximization of their efforts in terms of what outcomes they can achieve, and I think that will really be a great moment," he said.

　　Tarun Vijay, a former member of parliament, said he believes that India and China are capable of releasing the energy of peaceful coexistence and economic prosperity, and using their influence to curb and defeat negative forces of terrorism and extremism.

　　Chairperson at the Center of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies of the JNU, B. R. Deepak, said India and China reiterated their commitment to globalization, and that they agreed to find convergence on many global issues such as climate change, counter-terrorism and multilateral mechanisms.

　　Both leaders emphasized the need to learn from each other's history and culture, he said.

　　President of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations Sharad Kumar Saraf considered the Modi-Xi informal meeting as truly a historic event.

　　"It underlined old political and cultural relationship between the two countries," Saraf said, adding that the meeting will help conclude the negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement.

　　Bikash Kali Das, founder and secretary of Pondicherry India-China Friendship Association, said he expects the establishment of connectivity between south India and southeast China, noting that "tourism and trade exchange will bloom."

　　"China is good at technology, and Indian products are ... better in organic and herbal type," he said. "I am confident both leaders are quite capable of taking things forward."