Two envoys of the exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, will leave for China Sunday to continue contacts established with Beijing two years ago after a decade-long break, a spokesman for the Tibetan government said.

The envoys -- Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen -- could also visit some Tibetan areas during the trip, the spokesman said in a press release.

"His Holiness the Dalai Lama is pleased that his envoys are making another visit and hopes the process will move forward to bring about substantive negotiations on the Tibetan problem," said Tenzin Geyche Tethong, secretary to the Dalai Lama.

The statement said the envoys received their final instructions from the Dalai Lama during an audience on September 8. The Prime Minister of the exiled Tibetan government, Samdhong Rinpoche, was also present during the meeting.

India has hosted the Dalai Lama since he fled Tibet in 1959 amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

The Tibetan leader's government in exile has been headquartered in this northern Indian town of Dharamsala since then.

Direct contacts between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government broke down in 1993 and were renewed only in September 2002.

Another Tibetan delegation paid a second visit in May 2003.