November 07, 2001

KATHMANDU: The two-day Nepal-Bhutan bilateral talks on more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees concluded in Kathmandu Wednesday. The bilateral talks, held at foreign secretary level, ended with no headway.
Both sides agreed to continue further discussion and expedite the process of verification and categorization of refugees in order to solve the problem.

Foreign Secretary Narayan Sumsher Thapa, head of the Nepalese delegation, said that talks were cordial and useful in finding out a solution to the problem.
“Refugee issue is a complex problem and we are trying to find a common ground for its resolution”, Foreign Secretary Thapa said after the talks.

Nepal has been consistently asking Bhutan to take back all refugees, who are living in camps in eastern Nepal for the last 11 years. Bhutan says are people living in refugee camps are not Bhutanese nationals.
Following deadlock, both countries agreed to verify the identity and status of all refugees. Bhutan says it will take back only those refugees who are Bhutanese citizens.