OREANDA-NEWS  China and India have expressed their willingness to resume cross-border trade in locally produced goods, which was interrupted five years ago. Bloomberg writes about this with reference to its sources.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry clarified that Beijing is "ready to step up cooperation and coordination with India" on this issue, as its decision "plays an important role in improving the lives of residents of the border areas of the two countries."

The agency recalls that for more than three decades, the parties traded spices, carpets, furniture, livestock feed, ceramics, medicinal plants, electrical appliances and wool through special points on the border stretching almost 3,500 kilometers in the Himalayas.

The points designated for such transactions were closed at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, which coincided with a sharp deterioration in relations between the countries due to clashes on the border, which has been disputed for more than half a century.

In the fall of 2024, India announced that it had reached an agreement with China to resume border patrols. It also recently became known that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China at the end of August for the first time since 2019, amid pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump related to trade duties.