April 17th 2025.
Announcement from the Ministry of External Affairs on the progress of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra between India and China was made on Thursday. According to spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, the Yatra may soon resume as the modalities are being finalized. The public will be notified when the Yatra is officially set to begin.
The Kailash Manasarovar Yatra has not taken place since 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak and the Chinese side not renewing Yatra arrangements. In the past, the Indian government organized the Yatra through two official routes - the Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand and Nathu La Pass in Sikkim between June and September.
In January of this year, during a meeting between the Foreign Secretary and Vice Foreign Minister, it was announced that plans were being made to resume the Yatra in the summer of 2025. The meeting also reviewed the state of bilateral relations between India and China and agreed to take steps to stabilize and rebuild ties, as directed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting in Kazan in October 2024.
The MEA stated that the relevant mechanism will further discuss the modalities for the Yatra as per existing agreements. Both sides also agreed to resume direct air services between the two countries and work is ongoing to negotiate an updated framework for this purpose.
Last month, during a consultation between the Foreign Ministries of India and China, it was announced that work is continuing to finalize the modalities for the resumption of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra. A meeting was held between Joint Secretary Gourangalal Das and Liu Jinsong, Director General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where the two sides reviewed the progress made in implementing the strategic direction and specific steps agreed upon in the meeting between the Foreign Secretary and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister in January 2025.
The statement issued by the MEA noted that both sides have taken note of the positive developments in bilateral relations since the meeting of the leaders of India and China in October 2024. They also agreed to continue efforts to promote people-to-people exchanges, including direct flights, media and think-tank interactions, and celebrating the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Progress has also been made on the modalities for the resumption of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in 2025.
The MEA also stated that both sides discussed planned exchanges and activities for this year and agreed to resume dialogue mechanisms in a step-by-step manner to address each other's priority areas of interest and concerns. This will help move relations towards a more stable and predictable path.
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