New Delhi:
India and China held a two-day foreign secretary-level talks in which it was decided to resume Kailash-Mansarovar yatra in the summer. The relevant mechanism will discuss the modalities for doing so as per existing agreements, the foreign ministry said in a statement. There was also an in-principle agreement for resumption of direct flights between the two nations.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had visited Beijing for a meeting of the Foreign Secretary-Vice Foreign Minister mechanism between India and China today.
As agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at their meeting in Kazan in October, the two sides reviewed the state of India-China bilateral relations and agreed to take certain people-centric steps to stabilize and rebuild ties.
The resumption of the yatra is seen as a big step in this direction.
The yatra– which involves a visit to mount Kailash and Mansarovar lake in Tibet — has been suspended since the Covid outbreak of 2020.
Post-Covid, there was no renewal of arrangements by the Chinese side amid prickly relations between Beijing and New Delhi. The situation escalated after the Galwan clash.
The meet also 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.
An early meeting of the India-China Expert Level Mechanism will also be held to discuss resumption of provision of hydrological data and other cooperation pertaining to trans-border rivers.
During his visit, the Foreign Secretary called on Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Director of the Office of Central Commission of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Liu Jianchao, the ministry said.
