India and China have agreed to restart the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in 2025, following discussions between Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Chinese officials in Beijing. Both sides aim to strengthen bilateral ties through people-centric initiatives, including resuming direct air services and reviving cooperation on trans-border river hydrological data.
Image Source: Freepik
India and China have agreed to restart the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in 2025, as announced by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday. This decision follows Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s visit to Beijing on January 26-27, where he attended the Foreign Secretary-Vice Foreign Minister mechanism meeting on January 27.
The MEA release stated, “As agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping during their meeting in Kazan in October, both sides comprehensively reviewed the state of India-China bilateral relations and agreed to take people-centric measures to stabilize and rebuild ties.” It further confirmed, “In this context, the two sides have decided to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summer of 2025. The relevant mechanism will discuss the modalities for this resumption in line with existing agreements. They also agreed to hold an early meeting of the India-China Expert Level Mechanism to discuss the resumption of the provision of hydrological data and other forms of cooperation regarding trans-border rivers.”
Kailash Mansarovar, considered the sacred abode of Lord Shiva, has been inaccessible to Indian pilgrims for several years due to the suspension of the Yatra.
Additionally, both nations have agreed “to take appropriate measures to further promote and facilitate people-to-people exchanges, including media and think-tank interactions.” They have also decided “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.”
The MEA further confirmed that India and China will reinstate direct flights, highlighting their consensus on resuming air services and discussing hydrological data-sharing related to trans-border rivers.
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