India-China to resume Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, agree on flight services

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said both India and China have agreed in-principle to resume flight services between the two sides for Kailsh Mansarovar

India on Thursday said there is a possibility of resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra soon and preparations for it are underway.

India and China have been looking at resuming the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra as part of efforts to improve ties after the two countries completed disengagement of troops at the two remaining friction points of Demchok and Depsang under the framework of a pact sealed in October last year.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said both India and China have agreed in-principle to resume flight services between the two sides as well and that relevant modalities are being worked out.

The move to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and flight services is part of efforts by India and China to repair the ties hit by the over four-year military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

"We will soon issue a public notice on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and there is a possibility of resumption of the Yatra soon," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

"The Yatra will happen this year and we are making preparations. More information will be put out for the public soon," he added.

The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra has not taken place since 2020.

On resumption of flight services, Jaiswal said: "In principle, both countries have agreed that flight operations will resume."  "The technical teams on both sides are looking into the technical arrangements for the flight services to resume. The two civil aviation authorities have met and are discussing the relevant modalities, including the updated framework," he said.

Last month, India and China explored ways to rebuild ties and agreed to initiate efforts to promote people-to-people exchanges, including arrangements for resumption of direct flights as well as Kailash Manasarovar Yatra this year.

In a meeting in Beijing, the two sides also discussed resumption of dialogue mechanisms in a "step-by-step" manner to utilize them to address each other's priority areas of interest and concern and move the relations on to a "more stable and predictable path".

The relations between the two countries came under severe strain following the Galwan Valley clashes in 2020.

The meeting in Beijing was held between Gourangalal Das, the joint secretary in the MEA's East Asia division, and Liu Jinsong, the director general at the Chinese foreign ministry's department of Asian affairs.

There have been series of meetings between India and China following the disengagement of troops in Depsang and Demchok.

In December, NSA Doval travelled to Beijing and held talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi under the framework of Special Representatives (SR) dialogue on the boundary question.

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

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 January, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited Beijing and held talks with his Chinese counterpart Sun Weidong.

In the meeting, the two sides decided to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and agreed to take certain people-centric steps to "stabilise and rebuild" ties.