Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returns from Durban

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returned here tonight from Durban wrapping up a four-day visit to South Africa where he attended the BRICS Summit.

Singh was accompanied by a high-level delegation including Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon.

On the sidelines of the Summit, Singh met China's new President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During his first face-to-face meeting with Xi, who took over as President earlier this month as part of the once-in-a- decade change of guard in China, Singh pledged to intensify dialogue and communications with the new leadership of China and to put the ties on an even higher growth trajectory.