India and China agreed to restart direct passenger flights "at the earliest," the Indian foreign ministry said after talks in New Delhi on Tuesday. Commercial services between the two countries have been suspended since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The aviation move forms part of a broader package unveiled during the 24th round of border discussions led by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi joining the concluding session. The two sides also pledged to finalise an updated Air Services Agreement. Beyond aviation, the neighbours committed to reopening border trade through the Lipulekh, Shipki La and Nathu La passes, expanding the scale of Indian pilgrimages to Kailash Manasarovar in Tibet, and backing each other’s forthcoming presidencies of the BRICS grouping. On security, the delegations said they would establish new "General Level Mechanisms" for the eastern and middle sectors of their contested Himalayan frontier to manage de-escalation and delimitation. While no timeline was given for troop pullbacks, the parties agreed to continue boundary negotiations, with the next round of talks to be held in China in 2026.