Nepal-India Inter-government Committee meet concludes sans major headway

January 31, 2004
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A two-day Nepal-India Inter-governmental Committee meet ended in Kathmandu Saturday with, as reports said, no significant progress on pertaining bilateral trade issues.

Commerce secretaries of both the countries led their respective teams. The 18-member Nepalese team was led by Dinesh Chandra Pyakurel, secretary, Ministry of Industry and Commerce while Deepak Chatarjee led the Indian team of 26.

Although, no details have come out regarding agreements made in the meeting, no significant achievements have been made, reports said.

Nepal has been demanding relaxation of tax imposed on products like acrylic yarn, vegetable ghee, beer, tea, copper and cashmere along with establishment of quarantine posts at customs offices.

Nepalese vegetable ghee has been the biggest casualty since India imposed additional tax at the pressure of Indian entrepreneurs, leading to massive downsizing of export.

During the meet, Nepal proposed to set up broad gauge railway line from Sunauli to Jogbani, India. The Indian side floated the demand of free entry of Indian vehicles in Nepal.

It has been agreed that a joint secretary-level meeting will be held in the first week of March.

Meanwhile, Indian commerce secretary met Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa this afternoon and engaged him in discussions concerning bilateral trade issues.

During the meeting, reports said, Chatarjee informed Thapa about the possibilities of joint investment.