Nepal and China agreed Tuesday that Mt. Everest is 8,848.86 meters tall, ending a discrepancy between the heights recognized by the two nations that the world's tallest peak straddles.

Nepal had previously recognized the mountain as 8,848 meters tall, or 86 centimeters shorter than now, while China had put its height at 8,848.13 meters.

Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi made the joint announcement by video conferencing from Kathmandu and Beijing, respectively.

"This is a special moment," Gyawali said, adding that Nepal-China relations have strengthened in recent times.

Susheel Dangol, deputy director general of the Survey Department, said Nepal had so far been officially recognizing the mountain as 8,848 meters tall.

"The new height is the snow height of the mountain, and not the rock height," he added.

The new height is based on measurements conducted by Nepali surveyors who reached the top of Mt. Everest last year, and another measurement conducted by a Chinese team this year.

It comes amid speculation in the global climbing community that the mountain's height may have changed due to the devastating twin quakes that struck Nepal in 2015.

While Nepal had decided in 2011 to measure the height of the mountain as a national pride project, it was only after the quakes that actual work sped up.

In October last year, during Chinese President Xi Jinping's Nepal visit, the two sides agreed to jointly announce the height. By then, Nepal had already completed surveys and was conducting calculations.

This is the first time Nepal measured the height of the mountain. So far, it had been recognizing 8,848 meters as the official height of the mountain based on an Indian survey of 1954.

"This is the official height of the mountain now. It does not need approval from any international body," Janak Raj Joshi, spokesman at the Ministry of Land Management, told Kyodo News in reference to Tuesday's announcement.

Ang Tshering Sherpa, honorary member of International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation, said the height disparity between China and Nepal had been causing problems to climbers.

Sherpa told Kyodo that until 2015, China had been granting certificates to successful climbers recognizing that they had scaled 8,844-meter Mt. Everest. This height is based on a Chinese survey of 2005.

Concerned that climbers were getting more attracted to south side because Nepal issued certificates of successful ascent of 8,848-meter Mt. Everest, China reverted to the height of 8,848.13 meters based on its 1975 survey, Sherpa added.

The uniformity of height will now encourage capable climbers to attempt the south side in Nepal, which is more difficult, and those who prefer an easier climb to try their luck on the north side in Tibet, Sherpa said.

The mountain was first climbed by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Nepali guide Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Hundreds of foreigners throng the mountain each spring when weather is favorable for expeditions. The spring climbing season this year was called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Nepal is home to eight of the world's 14 tallest peaks.