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| Kathmandu, Thursday May 02, 2002 Baishakh 19, 2059. |
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Nepal-India Railways talks
begin
Post Report
KATHMANDU, May 1: Two-day of talks between the
visiting Indian delegation and Nepali officials over the protracted Railways Agreement,
which once signed would pave the way for the operation of Birgunj-Kolkata railways, began
here today.
Both the Indian as well as Nepali officials have
expressed optimism that some sort of understanding would be reached at the end of the
talks on Thursday.
"The talks are progressing very smoothly
and we are optimistic that the much-awaited agreement would be reached this time,"
said Purushottam Ojha, Director General of Department of Commerce, one of the Nepali
participants in the talks.
Likewise, leader of the Indian delegation, Alok
Rawat, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, said that various
unresolved issues are being discussed in the talks.
Sources close to The Kathmandu Post revealed
that the two sides today discussed over the security of the railways cargo, the customs
checks, and the frequency of railways operation between Birgunj and Kolkatta.
Once the Birgunj-Kolkata railways becomes
operational, transit costs for Nepal while carrying out third country trade would go down
by as high as thirty per cent. The construction of the Birgunj Inland Container Depot was
completed in February 2001 but is yet to become operational due to the delay in signing
the Railways Agreement.
The Indian delegation had come to discuss over
the long-overdue Regulation on Trans-border Movement of Motor Vehicles and the Railways
Agreement. The delegation already carried out talks on Monday and Tuesday with the Nepali
counterparts to facilitate the cross-border operations of passenger and cargo vehicles.
Though the two sides failed to come to
conclusive terms during the two-day talks, Indian officials said that many critical issues
have been sorted out and that another round of talks would be held very soon to give the
regulation a shape.
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