Dozens of issues to be taken up in Nepal-India IGC
KATHMANDU, DEC 19 -
Commerce secretaries from Nepal and India are meeting in Kathmandu on Saturday to hold bilateral commerce and trade talks , in which the two sides will make concrete efforts to resolve outstanding issues pertaining to bilateral trade, transit and commerce.
The two-day meeting, also known as Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC), is the first high-level official exchanges between India and Nepal after the Constituent Assembly elections on November 19. The meeting, which is taking place after a two-year hiatus, will take stock over the entire gamut of bilateral trade and commerce related issues, according to Nepali officials.
Commerce Secretary Madhav Regmi, who is leading the Nepali side, said Nepal would ask India to allow the import of 10,000 hybrid cows from the southern neighbour in order to meet the milk demand and help dairy farmers boost milk production. “We have a shortfall of half a million litres of milk on an average daily,” said Regmi.
However, the Nepali side is yet to decide on what modality — either grant or loan — should be worked out to seek such a support. During the last IGC meeting held in New Delhi, India had agreed to examine the issue in consultation with government agencies concerned.
Other issues to be discussed in the meeting are trade facilitation, operationalization of the Vishakhaptnam port, waiving the additional 4 percent customs duty imposed by the Indian side on all export items of Nepal and upgradation of transit and trade points.
According to Commerce Ministry officials, the Nepali side will take up the issues of unauthorised import of food grains and other items prohibited for export from India, affixation of an additional one time lock by Indian custom on traffic in transits between Indian ports and Nepal and vehicles emission norms.
According to an Indian Embassy press statement, the meeting will also discuss issues related to transit facilities provided by India to Nepal to facilitate trade with countries other than India, investment promotion, improvement of infrastructure at land customs stations, day-to-day problems in regulations of Nepali traffic-in-transit and issues related to Indian investment in Nepal, among others.
Joydeep Majumdar, deputy chief mission at Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, said the pending three Letters of Exchanges related to trade, commerce and transit will be discussed and will move towards the advanced level for signing.
According to Majumdar, India is going to address some grievances put forth by Nepal, particularly on agro-based, ayurvedic and pharmaceutical products.
Indian side will take up issues of providing transit facility to India for transporting goods via Nepal. India had been seeking such a facility on reciprocal basis given it has been providing transit facility to Nepal. Indian trucks will be able to transport goods from one part of India to another part via Nepal’s 27 border points after the countries sign the letter of exchange.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
