The first round of border talks were in December 1981. Negligible progress was made in the first three rounds of talks. In the fourth round it was decided that other areas of relations should be normalized without linking them to the border issues. This caused tensions to decrease to a point where during the fifth round, the border issue was again confronted head on but no final outcome was made for numerous reasons including domestic incidents such as the assassination of Indian Prime Minister. The seventh round in July 1986 was held in the background of the Sumdorong Chu standoff. The eight round ultimately led to a visit of the Indian Prime Minister to China in 1988, a visit of the Chinese Premier to India in 1992 and then a visit of Indian President to China in 1992. All this preceded and led to the 1993 agreement. The Joint Working Group (JWG) on the boundary question was set up in 1988 to recommend solutions to the border dispute. Prior to the 1993 agreement, a trade agreement was signed in 1984, followed by a cultural cooperation agreement in 1988. Military dialogue was also initiated with respective visits of India's National Defence College and the PLA's National Defence University in 1990 and 1992. In July 1992 by India's Defence Minister visited China. There were also exchanges between various think tanks of both countries.