Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to China’s President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg and highlighted concerns India has about border issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), India’s foreign secretary said.

Modi and Xi agreed “to direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said.

Relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours have been sour for more than three years after soldiers from both sides clashed in the Himalayan frontier in June 2020, resulting in 24 deaths.

While the situation on the nearly 3,000 km (1,860-mile)frontier has been calm since the face-off continues in a few pockets.

On the sidelines of the BRICS summit Modi highlighted to Xi “India’s concerns on the unresolved issues along the LAC”, Kwatra said.

Modi also “underlined that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas, and observing and respecting the LAC are essential for the normalisation of the India-China relationship,” the foreign secretary said.

This is the first time that Modi has brought up the issue directly with Xi, repeating India’s stand that has been shared with China through other ministers multiple times.

The two leaders interacted on the sidelines of the Group of 20 nations summit in Indonesia last year, but only exchanged courtesies and discussed the need to stabilise ties, the Indian government said recently.