China agrees in principle to resume trade via India's HP state border

The trade route had been suspended in 2020 following the COVID-19 outbreak.

Indian external affairs minister S Jaishankar informed state chief minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu that New Delhi had opened discussions with Beijing for restoring border trade through all three designated points—Shipki-La in Himachal Pradesh, Lipulekh in Uttarakhand and Nathu La in Sikkim, a news agency reported.

“The Himachal government’s consistent efforts to resume trade with China through Shipki-La (Kinnaur) have yielded encouraging results. The government of China has agreed in principle to the proposal during the recent visit of Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi to India,” the statement from the state government said.

The chief minister had written to the Indian government urging revival of the Indo-Tibetan trade route, after which the matter was formally taken up with China, leading to a consensus on restarting the route, it added.

The state would now approach the central commerce ministry for completing the codal formalities.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)