India and China Agree to Restart Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and Launch Direct Flights

The decisions were announced after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri held wide-ranging talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong in Beijing.

India and China on Monday decided to resume Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and agreed in principle to restore direct flights as the two sides announced several measures to "rebuild" bilateral ties over two-and-a-half months after their militaries completed disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh.

The decisions were announced after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri held wide-ranging talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong in Beijing.

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In other terms of the agreement, both sides have agreed to conduct an early expert-level meeting of the India-China mechanism on trans-border rivers to deliberate over the resumption of hydrological data and other cooperation relating to trans-border rivers, stated the Ministry of External Affairs.
Foreign Secretary Mr S Jaishankar met Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Liu Jianchao.

Misri and Sun reviewed comprehensively the state of India-China bilateral relations and agreed upon certain people-centric steps to "stabilise and rebuild ties," the MEA said in a statement.

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"In this context, the two sides decided to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summer of 2025; the relevant mechanism will discuss the modalities for doing so as per existing agreements," it said.

It said that it was also agreed to hold an early meeting of the India-China expert level mechanism to discuss resumption of provision of hydrological data and other cooperation pertaining to trans-border rivers, as announced by the MEA.

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"They agreed in principle to resume direct air services between the two countries; the relevant technical authorities on the two sides will meet and negotiate an updated framework for this purpose at an early date," it said.

The two sides agreed to take appropriate measures to further promote and facilitate people-to-people exchanges, including media and think-tank interactions, it added.

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"The two sides also agreed to hold an early meeting of the India-China expert level mechanism to discuss resumption of provision of hydrological data and other cooperation pertaining to trans-border rivers," the MEA said.

It also referred to the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan in October last year.

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As agreed between Modi and Xi at their meeting in Kazan, Foreign Secretary Misri and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun reviewed the state of India-China bilateral relations "comprehensively" and agreed to take certain people-centric steps to "stabilise and rebuild ties", the MEA said.

The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra as well as direct flights between the two countries were suspended in 2020.

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"The two sides recognize that 2025, being the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and China, should be used to redouble public diplomacy efforts to create better awareness about each other and restore mutual trust and confidence among the public," the MEA said.

It said the two sides also took stock of the extant mechanisms for "functional exchanges".

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"It was agreed to resume these dialogues step by step and to utilize them to address each other's priority areas of interest and concern," the MEA said.

"Specific concerns in the economic and trade areas were discussed with a view to resolving these issues and promoting long-term policy transparency and predictability," it added.

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Misri began his two-day trip to Beijing on Sunday primarily to hold talks with Sun.

The meeting between Misri and Sun was a revival of the foreign secretary-vice foreign minister level dialogue mechanism.
Last month, NSA Ajit Doval visited Beijing and held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi under the framework of Special Representatives (SR) dialogue on the boundary dispute.

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The decision to revive the SR mechanism and other such dialogue formats was taken at the meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi in Kazan on October 23.

During the nearly 50-minute meeting, Modi had underlined the importance of properly handling differences and disputes and not allowing them to disturb peace and tranquility in border areas.

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The Modi-Xi meeting came two days after India and China firmed up a disengagement pact for Depsang and Demchok, the last two friction points in eastern Ladakh.

In the SR dialogue, India pressed for a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement of the overall boundary dispute between the two countries.

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Doval and Wang also emphasized "positive" direction for cross-border cooperation including resuming the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, river data sharing and border trade.

India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas.

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Following the completion of the disengagement process in Demchok and Depsang, the Indian and Chinese militaries also resumed patrolling activities in the two areas after a gap of almost four-and-a-half years.

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