NEW DELHI (BLOOMBERG) - Talks between military commanders of China and India to resolve a two-year-old border dispute - at its worst in four decades - were inconclusive, a joint statement issued by India's Ministry of Defence said.

A quick resolution of the border dispute would help "facilitate progress in bilateral relations", the two sides said in the statement.

This round of talks - the 15th since the dispute began in the summer of 2020 - like the previous two rounds, ended without any agreement to pull back troops from friction points along the disputed Himalayan border.

China and India, however, agreed to meet again, the joint statement said, indicating a willingness on both sides to give diplomacy a chance to resolve the conflict even as troops remain deployed toe to toe along the border for the second year.

The two countries share a 3,488km border that runs along the Himalayas.

As many as 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers were killed in a border skirmish in the Galwan Valley last year. Both countries have moved thousands of troops, artillery guns, tanks and fighter jets to the border since March 2020.

Tensions between the two countries remain, with India's army chief recently citing the risk of Chinese aggression.