In a significant development, India and China have agreed to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summer of 2025, signaling efforts to rebuild ties between the two nations. This decision was announced after foreign secretary Vikram Misri’s visit to Beijing on January 26-27 for discussions with Chinese officials under the Foreign Secretary-Vice Foreign Minister mechanism.
The meeting, which stemmed from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping’s interaction in October last year, focused on stabilising and strengthening India-China relations.
“Foreign Secretary Shri. Vikram Misri visited Beijing on 26-27 January for a meeting of the Foreign Secretary-Vice Foreign Minister mechanism between India and China on 27 January. As agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at their meeting in Kazan in October, the two sides reviewed the state of India-China bilateral relations comprehensively and agreed to take certain people-centric steps to stabilize and rebuild ties,” said the ministry of external affairs in a press release.
Then announcing the decision of resuming the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra it added, “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. They 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.”
Key takeaways from the Meeting
MEA announced that as both nations had agreed to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summer of 2025, modalities for this sacred pilgrimage will be finalised through the existing mechanisms.
In addition, the two sides decided to convene an early meeting of the India-China Expert Level Mechanism to discuss resuming the exchange of hydrological data and enhancing cooperation on trans-border rivers.
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Steps to bolster people-to-people exchanges
India and China emphasized the importance of fostering people-to-people connections. Key measures include:
- Resuming direct air services between the two countries. Technical teams from both sides will meet to finalise an updated framework.
- Enhancing media and think-tank interactions to promote mutual understanding.
Both nations aim to leverage 2025, marking the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties, to conduct commemorative activities and strengthen public diplomacy efforts, according to the MEA.
Economic and trade dialogue
During the discussions, the two sides reviewed existing functional mechanisms and agreed to progressively resume bilateral dialogues to address each other’s key concerns. Economic and trade issues were a priority, with both parties focusing on resolving specific challenges to ensure policy predictability and transparency. “The two sides took stock of the extant mechanisms for functional exchanges. 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. 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,” said the MEA.
High-level meetings
Foreign Secretary Misri held discussions with senior Chinese officials, including- HE Wang Yi, foreign minister and member of the politburo of the Communist Party of China and HE Liu Jianchao, minister of the international department of the Communist Party of China.
