India's Ambassador to China Vikram Misri had a farewell call on State Councilor & China's Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi via video-link on Monday, a press release from the Indian Embassy in Beijing said. Ambassador Misri will be soon completing his tenure as India's top envoy in Beijing which saw both ups and downs. Speaking about the India-China bilateral relations, Ambassador noted that bilateral relations comprised both opportunities and challenges, and even though certain challenges since last year had overpowered the vast opportunities in the relationship, he was hopeful that with continued communication at all levels – political, diplomatic and military, the two sides would be able to resolve the current difficulties and take the relationship forward in a positive direction. <br />''<br />''Mr. Misri took charge as India's top envoy in Beijing in January 2019 after serving as Ambassador in Myanmar, when India and China made efforts to deepen their cooperation in various areas, leaving behind the 2017 Doklam standoff which was the most serious military face-off in decades. <br />''<br />''During his tenure, both countries saw a successful second informal summit at Mahabalipuram in Chennai in November 2019, however, in June 2020, deadly Galwan Valley clashes between the two armies pushed the relations to an ebb in which both sides lost precious lives. In this regard, Ambassador, in particular, highlighted the role played by External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in issuing appropriate guidance to achieve full and complete resolution of the current issues at India-China border areas, and underlined his continued hope that complete resolution of these issues as per the understanding between the two Foreign Ministers would be achieved soon, which in turn would help relations to return towards normalisation, which was the common goal of both sides. <br />''<br />''During Amb Misri's tenure, major complexity arose due to outbreak of deadly COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019 and the ensuing geopolitical maneuvering which threw up many challenges hitherto unknown including over dependence on one country in supply chains and a drastically changing global order. Another major issue thrown up by the pandemic is that around 23000 Indian students studying in Chinese universities are stuck in India since January 2020 and China has not yet allowed them to return to their campuses. Thousands of families are separated and are waiting to return to China to reunite. Despite all the difficulties in bilateral relations, India and China achieved the milestone of 100 billion USD bilateral trade in 2021 and few pharmaceuticals made a breakthrough in Chinese markets for cancer drugs.<br />''<br />''Amb Misri thanked Foreign Minister Wang Yi for the opportunity for the farewell call and conveyed his appreciation for the assistance and cooperation extended by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the discharge of his official duties in China. Foreign Minister Wang Yi appreciated Ambassador Misri's role in promoting and managing the relationship in the last three years. He conveyed his best wishes for Ambassador's future assignment and expressed hope that he would continue to make contributions to India-China relations. He also shared his belief that the commonalities far outweighed the differences in our bilateral relations and expressed confidence that our relations would be able to make progress in the future. Mr. Misri will be returning to the headquarters in New Delhi. His successor is yet to be announced.