KATHMANDU, Jan. 25: Ambassador of India to Nepal Shyam Saran has said that India-Nepal relations are anchored in a shared history, a common cultural legacy and a complementary economic relationship.

In an interview to RSS reporter Sharachchandra Bhandary on the occasion of 54th Republic Day of India, the Indian envoy observed, “in the new millennium, India-Nepal relations must adapt to new challenges and acquire a new dynamism.” He further said, “this also requires a change of mindset both in India and Nepal.”

“India is today the fourth largest economy in the world in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms and over the past decade, it has been growing at an average rate of 6% per annum”, Ambassador Saran said, adding “it has a middle class of nearly 400 million people with disposable incomes comparable to those in Europe. There are 5 million Indian tourists travelling abroad each year and this number is increasing by 10% per annum”.

Competitive source

He noted that India is also now a competitive source for a whole range of technologies such as information technology, bio-technology, space sciences and renewable energy sources and pointed out that Nepal should look upon India and its close and friendly relations with India, as an asset for its own development.

Referring to the huge Indian market waiting to be tapped by Nepal, he said, “here is a market next door to which you have duty free access. Here is a friendly country which is ready to share its technological strengths with you. India can become your largest market for tourism. Why not look upon India as an opportunity?”

He remarked that India too must change the way in which it looks at Nepal.

Energy resources

The Indian Ambassador noted that as a nation of 22 million people with rich resources, Nepal, too, is an opportunity for India and added, “India’s development will require energy resources, which Nepal has in abundance. Nepal can become an attractive investment destination for India, with industries catering to both the countries, since its wages are lower and operating costs cheaper”.

Asked about how the bilateral relations between these two countries should be moved ahead in the 21st century, ambassador Shyam Saran stressed that India-Nepal relations in the 21st century should be enriched through the realisation of the immense potential that exists for a mutually rewarding economic partnership.

Highlighting the importance of partnership, he said, “such a partnership will in turn bring the two countries even closer together politically and culturally”.

People to people contacts

“Let us also widen our interaction by providing many more opportunities than at present for people to people contacts. Our professionals, scholars, artistes, media persons and other civil society personages should engage in a wide-ranging dialogue not only focussed on the relations between our two countries but also the many regional and global challenges we face”, he said.

Asked to spell out any new plans and programmes that India would assist Nepal, he said the government of India was considering a number of projects for the socio-economic development of Nepal.

He maintained that the East-West Highway Optical Fibre Cable Project was already sanctioned and work on this would commence very shortly and the project for setting up the 200-bed emergency and trauma centre as an extension of the Bir Hospital in Kathmandu, was under advanced stage of formulation and that the project implementation would commence within the current year. 
He said in collaboration with the Manmohan Memorial Foundation and His Majesty’s Government of Nepal, the government of India will fund the establishment of a polytechnic in Biratnagar.
He added that this institution will provide diploma level technical education in four disciplines, namely civil engineering, electrical, mechanical engineering and electronics.

The ambassador further said that western Nepal will also not be ignored and an institute of technology to provide degree level education in information technology and biotechnology will be set up in Dhangadi with Indian assistance.

Cooperation projects

“We are also actively considering a project submitted by the Salt Trading Corporation seeking assistance to strengthen the programme for controlling iodine deficiency disorders through supply of subsidised iodised salt in Nepal”, he disclosed.

In addition, there are several welfare and development projects at the forgotten.”

Leader of the CPN-UML Jhala Nath Khanal said, “The reason behind the present state of the country is also because of the growing conflict among parties, government and the King which is very unfortunate.” There are elements that are active in widening the gap between His Majesty the King, the government and the political parties, and that issue has to be dealt with first,” he maintained.
He said his party was not after power, but was effortful in forging alliance with other parties to solve the national problems. “If the government takes the initiatives to resolve the Maoist problem, the UML will extend support even if it remains outside the government.”

“Conflict had to be resolved through dialogues and it should form the basis for addressing other bigger problems. But it is pity that the government is not making any sincere effort to solve the existing impasse,” he said.

Senior advocate Bal Krishna Neupane blamed the political parties for not being serious about the problems of peace and security.

“The major political parties exercised various kinds of governmental systems in the past 12 years but their role in maintaining peace and security in the nation remained at almost zero. They are now indulging in politics of propaganda which is detrimental to both the country and the people,” he said.
“Engaging in debate whether the present government has executive power or not, is a flimsy issue for discussion on the part of the political parties,” he said. As the government is the signatory to its decisions, it has executive power,” he explained and asked the political parties to forge alliance with the government to settle the problems of peace and order, and of the elections.

grassroots level under aid to Nepal as well as under our welfare schemes for ex-servicemen of the Indian army, Ambassador Saran said.

Shedding light on the importance of Indo-Nepal relations, he said there was potential for an even closer political and economic partnership between the two countries and that India attached the highest priority to its relations with Nepal.

Bilateral accords

Regarding the progress made in the implementation of various bilateral agreements signed between Nepal and India, including the pending Pancheshwar Project and the inland container depot at Birgunj, ambassador Saran remarked that various agreements between the two countries were making steady progress in terms of implementation and that an important direction which has been coming out of the high-level exchanges was the need to bolster the commercial and trade ties.

“This I must admit has suffered because of the negative perception of the investment climate in Nepal presently. This I may mention is a temporary phenomena and we should be able to address this sooner than later”, he said.

He said the joint statement issued at the end of visit of the then Prime Minister Deuba’s visit to India on March 23, 2002 directed both sides to expeditiously complete the boundary work and that boundary demarcation work was progressing well.

“The strip survey for Sikkim, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh are completed. With this work, 92% of strip survey work has been completed. Around 62% of the total border identification work has been completed. After demarcation of identified boundary, 579 boundary pillars were constructed during the field season of 2001-2002 and with this, a total of 5394 boundary pillars have been constructed”, he added.

He said that the joint project office – Pancheshwar investigations was wound up in July 2002 as the data collection and technical studies for the DPR had been completed and elaborated that the Detailed Project Report (DPR) has not yet been completed, as some important issues remain to be resolved.

He maintained that those issues pertain to the siting of the re-regulating dam downstream of the main Pancheshwar dam – whether it is located at Purnagiri or some other site and the apportionment of costs between our two sides and other issues.

Water resources

Stating that the governments of the two countries need to discuss these issues and take a decision, after which the writing of the DPR could be accomplished with ease, he said it is a question of how much importance our two sides place on furthering cooperation in the water resources sector. 
“We have worked hard and achieved substantial progress on the Pancheshwar Project. We need to sustain progress on the implementation of the project”, he stressed.

Similarly he said that the operationalisation of the inland container depot at Birgunj, depends upon the finalisation of the rail services agreement.

“We have had two rounds of talks on this agreement and we are scheduled to have another, and hopefully, final round of talks will take place in early February in Kathmandu”, he said adding that a few issues remained to be resolved.

Mutual understanding

He expressed the hope that these will be sorted out in a spirit of mutual understanding.

In regard to checking terrorist and criminal activities taking place along the border, he said both countries would need to strengthen the border check posts, improve coordination and interaction between the police and administration officials of the districts on both sides of the Indo-Nepal border and ensure better intelligence sharing between the two countries on criminal and terrorist activities. 
On India’s help to Nepal in containing the Maoist problem, Ambassador Saran said the government of India is committed to helping Nepal in dealing with the Maoist problem.

“Besides providing training and material help to the Nepalese police and army, whenever possible, we have also been apprehending the Maoists and handing them over to Nepal. These efforts will bear more fruit from increased intelligence sharing and exchange of information”, he added.

Asked about the allegations that top Maoist leaders have been provided shelter in India and that they were being aided and abetted by terrorist organisations in India like the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and on the ways to foil such a nexus, he made it clear that the government of India was certainly not providing any sort of shelter to Maoist leaders in India.

He said however, if anybody has any specific information regarding the presence of any top Maoist leader in India, India would be happy to act upon it.

“It should be clearly understood that India regards the terrorist activities of the Maoists as much a threat to Indian security as it does Nepal. We are therefore committed to cooperation with Nepal to deal effectively with this threat”, he noted.

Stating that the possibility of some nexus between the Maoists and Indian extremist outfits like ULFA and the MCC cannot, however, be ruled out, he pointed out that the common threat can be met only by effective border management and better intelligence sharing between the two countries.

Asked about India’s role in seeking an amicable solution to the Bhutanse refugee problem, the Indian ambasssador replied, “India considers the Bhutanese refugee problem as a bilateral issue between Bhutan and Nepal. We believe that this issue should be amicably settled between the two countries. Goodwill and support is always available to both Bhutan and Nepal, with whom India has very close and cordial relations.”

Regarding the reported ban imposed by India on export of vegetable ghee to that country, he said, “the preferential access to the Indian market enjoyed by Nepalese manufactures was a result of the bilateral treaty of trade between India and Nepal, under which Nepalese goods enjoy 100% customs duty-free access to the Indian market. This preferential access is not entailed by SAPTAS”. 
He said Vanaspati is one of the four items for which annual quotas of export from Nepal to India have been set and that quotas were imposed because domestic Indian manufacturers of the same items were adversely affected by the influx of the cheaper-priced Nepalese goods.

A large bulk of Vanaspati exports from Nepal to India have gone to only three or four states of India causing some market disruptions there, he said and explained that export to some affected states which have already received large amounts of Nepalese Vanaspati, has been restricted.