NATHU LA PASS, Tibet, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The barbed wire that separated the world's two most populous nations is gone and happy crowds of traders crossed the Sino-Indian border, 44 years after a border conflict closed down one of their main trade routes.

    China and India restarted border trade Thursday through the Nathu La Pass, which sits 4,545 meters above sea level and is wedged between Yadong County of Tibet's Xigaze Prefecture and India's Sikkim State.

    They also opened two border trade markets -- the Renqinggang market in Yadong and Changgu mart in India's state of Sikkim.

    Traders from both sides of the borderline crossed the pass to enter each other's territories after an inaugural ceremony late Thursday morning.

    "Now at last, the border trade market is open again," said Losang, a 53-year-old Tibetan businessman who has filled his shelves with Tibetan incense and snacks.

    Nathu La Pass was also a major artery of the Silk Road that historically linked China via Central Asia to Europe.

    "We're very happy that trade is opened through Nathu La. It is a small beginning. I hope that subsequently we'll be able to visit the Chinese mainland through Nathu La in the near future," Sonam Dorjee, member of the State Planning Commission of the Sikkim government, told Xinhua in an interview.

    Before the pass was officially reopened, China and India raised their national flags and played national anthems on the two sides of their borderline.

    Experts say the reopening of Nathu La Pass, plus last Saturday's launching of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, will help pave a new Silk Road and build up regional harmony and prosperity.

    "Reopening of the pass represents an important move to enhance Sino-Indian ties. It will intensify their political trust as well as trade and economic relations," said Liu Jiangyong, an international studies specialist with the Beijing-based Tsinghua University.

    Liu said the move also represents a trend for big countries to enhance cooperation and improve good neighborly ties.

    China and India recorded 18.73 billion U.S. dollars of trade in2005, up 37.5 percent year-on-year, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. The figure is expected to exceed 20 billion U.S. dollars this year.

    Currently 90 percent of the goods are shipped by sea, and by way of Tianjin -- a port city some 120 kilometers from Beijing but4,400 kilometers from Lhasa.

    With Nathu La Pass opened, it is only 1,200 kilometers by land from Lhasa to Calcutta, a major coastal city of India.

    "This will help shape a major land trade route linking China and South Asia," said Prof. Liu.

    Trade through Nathu La Pass accounted for 80 percent of the total border trade volume between China and India in the early 1900s. But following their border conflict in 1962, the two countries closed their customs at former border trade markets and the trade route became a tightly guarded frontier with barbed wire.

    It was toward the end of the 20th century that Sino-Indian ties saw improvement, and the two countries agreed in 2003 to reopen border trade markets on the two sides of the Nathu La Pass.

    China approved plans to build a border trade market in Yadong last year.

    During Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to India last year, the two countries vowed to establish a strategic partnership toward peace and prosperity.

    China and India have marked 2006 as the year of Sino-Indian friendship. Enditem