Joint panel to be formed to execute tourism deal
KATHMANDU, JAN 30 -
The Tourism Ministry said that a Nepal-India joint working committee would be formed to implement the agreement s on tourism development signed between the two countries during the 18th Saarc Summit held in Kathmandu last November.
The first meeting of the joint panel has been planned to be held within three weeks in New Delhi, India.
The working committee will consist of tourism entrepreneurs from both the countries. Ghanendra Bahadur Shrestha, Phurba Gyalzen Sherpa, Rajendra Sapkota, Rewat Bahadur Thapa and Dhruba Narayan Shrestha will sit on the panel from Nepal. Speaking at a programme organised by the Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Tourism Secretary Suresh Man Shrestha said the committee would work to eliminate gaps in policies and
programmes to promote the tourism sectors of both the countries.
During the Saarc meeting, Nepal and India had signed three twin-city agreement s to link Janakpur and Ayodhya, Kathmandu and Varanasi and Lumbini and Bodh Gaya.
The two countries had also agreed to develop and mutually promote the Buddhist pilgrimage circuit. The pilgrim route connects Bodh Gaya in Bihar and Sarnath and Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh in India and Lumbini in Nepal. Nepal and India share a high potential in economic development through tourism promotion, said Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae, adding that the joint working committee would help to provide shape and framework to the clauses agreed during the Saarc Summit.
The ambassador also said that bilateral cooperation could help promote tourism through public-private partnership. Rae urged the development of a concrete development plan for tourism. “It can be turned into reality by facilitating the construction of infrastructure like the international airport in Bhairahawa and fast track highway,” he said.
Following the bilateral pact, Nepal and India have announced the establishment of twin-city relations and a daily bus service between Kathmandu and New Delhi has been started. Similarly, Indian tourists have been allowed to bring Indian currency of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations to Nepal.
SOurce: The Kathmandu Post
