India, China agree to resume border trade via Shipki-La, Nathu-La

India and China have agreed to the re-opening of border trade through the three designated trading points, namely Lipulekh Pass, Shipki-La and Nathu-La. Both sides have also agreed to continue and further expand the scale of the Indian pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, Gang Renpoche and Lake Manasarovar from 2026.

According to a spokesperson, the state government had been making efforts to resume trade with China through Shipki-La (Kinnaur). The Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi, who recently was on visit to India held meeting with Union External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar to discuss various bilateral issues, and both the ministers agreed in principle during this meeting to the proposal of resuming trade between the two nations.

The spokesperson said that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had written to the Union government urging revival of the historic Indo-Tibetan trade route.

Acting on this, the Union Government formally took up the matter with China, leading to a consensus to restart the trade. The state government would now take this matter with the Union Commerce Ministry for completing the codal formalities.