China has agreed in principle to resume trade with India through Shipki-La in Kinnaur: Himachal govt

The trade was suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

China has agreed in principle to the proposal of resuming trade through Shipki-La in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh during the recent visit of its Foreign Minister Wang Yi to India, a statement by the state government said on Sunday.

The trade was suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has informed the state government that the Government of India had initiated discussions with China for the resumption of border trade through all three designated points- Shipki-La (Himachal Pradesh), Lipulekh (Uttarakhand) and Nathu La (Sikkim), the statement issued here said.

"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,” it said.

"This breakthrough was made possible due to the personal intervention of Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who had written to the Union government urging revival of the historic Indo-Tibetan trade route” following which the Union government ”formally took up the matter with China, leading to a consensus to restart the trade,” the statement said.

The state government would now take up the matter with the Union Commerce Ministry for completing codal formalities. The chief minister had emphasised that Shipki-La, once an offshoot of the legendary Silk Route and formalised as a border trade point under the India-China bilateral agreement of 1994, played a vital role in trans-Himalayan economic and cultural exchanges.

In addition to trade, the state government has also received a positive response regarding the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through Shipki-La, the statement said.The state government had highlighted that the Shipki-La route, connecting via Gartok towards Darchen and Mansarovar, is comparatively shorter on the Tibetan side.

Himachal Pradesh already has road connectivity up to Shipki-La via Rampur Bushahr and Pooh, making it feasible to develop the necessary base camps and supporting infrastructure for the Yatra, the communication sent to the Union Government had said. The External Affairs Minister, in a letter to the CM, conveyed that after a five-year gap, the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra has resumed through Lipulekh Pass (Uttarakhand) and Nathu La Pass (Sikkim), and discussions are underway with China on the possibility of adding Shipki-La as an additional route. The state government is hopeful that these initiatives will not only revive traditional border trade but also open new avenues for tourism, cultural exchange, and economic development in Himachal Pradesh, the statement said.