India and China on Tuesday agreed to set up a working mechanism on border management to deal with matters related to maintaining peace and tranquility in the frontier areas.
The agreement followed the completion of the 15th round of special representative talks on the boundary issue between national security advisor Shivshankar Menon and China’s state councillor, Dai Bingguo.
The talks between the two SRs were cancelled last year after New Delhi refused to relent to Beijing’s demand for cancellation of Dalai Lama’s speech at a Buddhist congregation that was happening at around the same time as the talks.
The working mechanism will be headed by a joint secretary level official from the ministry of external affairs, India and a director general level official from the ministry of foreign affairs, China and will comprise diplomatic and military officials of the two sides.
The two sides agreed to hold consultations under this working mechanism once or twice every year alternately in India and China.
