Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, left, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attend a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People on Oct. 23, 2013 in Beijing, China. Kyodo-News Pool/Getty Images

China and India signed a deal Wednesday aimed at easing tension on their contested border, as the two countries try to break a decades-old stalemate on overlapping claims to remote stretches of the Himalayas.

The agreement was signed in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, following a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang.

"I am sure it will help to maintain peace, tranquility and stability in our border areas," China's Li told reporters following talks with Singh.

Beijing lays claim to more than 55,000 square miles disputed by New Delhi in the eastern sector of the Himalayas. In turn, India says China occupies about 24,000 square miles of its territory on the Aksai Chin plateau in the west.

The two countries fought a brief border war in 1962. Since then, ties have been mired in distrust, with a series of alleged violations by Chinese military patrols earlier this year.

The border defense cooperation agreement is built on existing confidence-building measures and is designed to ensure that patrolling along the Line of Actual Control, as the unsettled border is called, does not escalate into an unintended skirmish, an Indian official said last week.

Singh said the agreement "will add to the existing instruments to ensure peace, stability and predictability on our borders."