MOSCOW, September 26 (RIA Novosti) - China and India have agreed to a withdrawal of troops after a two week-long standoff near their de-facto border, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj was quoted as saying by the Indian NDTV television channel Friday.
"Both nations have sat down and resolved the [border standoff] issue. Timelines have been decided," Swaraj told journalists on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly currently taking place in New York. He added that the withdrawal of troops from the Ladakh region will begin Friday and is due to be completed by Tuesday.
"I talked about this with the Chinese foreign minister. I believe this is a big accomplishment," she said.
The two countries were engaged in a standoff in the Chumar region of Ladakh in the western Himalayas.
According to the Indian media, tensions in the area arose last Sunday, when Chinese workers who were constructing a temporary road crossed into the Indian side claiming that they had an order to build some five miles of the road inside the Indian territory.
The territories on the Himalayan borders have been a source of dispute for decades. In 1962 China and India fought a month-long war over these areas.
