Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday spoke to Chinese president Xi Jinping and highlighted India’s concerns on the unresolved issues along the LAC, foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said at a briefing.

“The prime minister underlined that the maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas, and observing and respecting the LAC are essential for the normalisation of the India-China relationship”, Kwatra added.

“In this regard, two leaders agreed to direct relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation”, the foreign secretary added.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi and the Chinese president shook hands and greeted each other ahead of the BRICS leaders’ briefing. Both the leaders were seen interacting briefly on the stage.

This was the first interaction between the two leaders after the meeting at G20 dinner in Bali last November. The prime minister had shook hands with Jinping who smiled at him. PM Modi and Jinping had spoken to each other for few minutes then.

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It was the first meeting between Modi and Xi Jinping since the Indian and Chinese armies clashed at Galwan Valley in 2020. The relations between the two countries have been strained since the standoff. Both the countries have held military level talks to resolve the border issues.

The two armies recently held 19th round of corps commander level talks. According to a statement by ministry of external affairs,“They agreed to resolve the remaining issues in an expeditious manner and maintain the momentum of dialogue and negotiations through military and diplomatic channels. In the interim, the two sides agreed to maintain the peace and tranquility on the ground in the border areas”.

The border dispute between the two countries has been continuing since past several decades. India and China had even fought a war in 1962.