Kailash Manasarovar Yatra likely to resume soon: MEA

New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) India and China continue to make progress on finalising the modalities to resume Kailash Manasarovar Yatra which can start soon, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Thursday.

"We will soon issue a notice for the public on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. There is a possibility of resumption of the Yatra soon," said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) at a regular media briefing in New Delhi on Thursday.

The Kailash Manasarovar Yatra has not taken place since 2020 following the Covid-19 outbreak and the subsequent non-renewal of Yatra arrangements by the Chinese side. The Indian government organised the Yatra between June and September through the two official routes of Lipulekh Pass (since 1981) in Uttarakhand and Nathu La Pass (since 2015) in Sikkim.

It was following the meeting held under the Foreign Secretary-Vice Foreign Minister mechanism in January this year that both sides had announced plans to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summer of 2025.

The meeting, where Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri led the Indian delegation, reviewed the state of India-China bilateral relations comprehensively and agreed to take certain people-centric steps to stabilise and rebuild ties, as agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting in Kazan in October 2024.

The MEA had then announced that the relevant mechanism will further discuss the modalities for Yatra as per the existing agreements.

Both sides had also agreed, in principle, to resume direct air services between the two countries with the relevant technical authorities on the two sides to negotiate an updated framework for the purpose at an early date.

Last month, following the official consultation between Foreign Ministries of India and China in Beijing, it was announced that work continues to finalise the modalities to resume Kailash Manasarovar Yatra.

Gourangalal Das, Joint Secretary (East Asia) at the MEA held a consultative meeting with Liu Jinsong, Director General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during which the two sides reviewed the action taken by them to implement the strategic direction as also the specific steps agreed in the meeting between Foreign Secretary and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister in January 2025 to stabilise and rebuild ties.

"They took positive note of the developments in bilateral relations since the meeting of the leaders of India and China in October 2024. In the intervening period, the Foreign Ministers have met twice, while the Special Representatives on the India-China boundary question have held their 23rd meeting. These high-level meetings have provided strategic guidance to stabilise and further develop relations," read a statement issued by the MEA.

"They agreed to continue efforts to further facilitate and promote people-to-people exchanges, including arrangements for resumption of direct flights, interaction of media and think-tanks, and celebration of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. The two sides have made further progress on the modalities to resume Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in 2025," it added.

The MEA stated that both sides also took stock of the planned exchanges and activities this year, discussing resumption of dialogue mechanisms in a step-by-step manner to utilise them to address each other's priority areas of interest and concern and move relations on to a more stable and predictable path.

--IANS

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