KATHMANDU: The Commerce Secretaries of Nepal and India co-chaired the meeting of the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) on Trade, Transit, and Cooperation to Control Unauthorized Trade that was held through video conferencing on Monday.
Secretary Commerce & Supplies Baikuntha Aryal was assisted by representatives of various Ministries and Departments of the Government of Nepal.
Indian Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan was accompanied by Indian Ambassador Vinay Mohan Kwatra and a 15 member delegation drawn from various Ministries and the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu.
The IGC is the apex bilateral mechanism for the promotion of trade and investments between the two countries.
The meeting reviewed the progress made on several notable agenda items in the sphere of trade and commerce.
These included discussions on comprehensive reviews of the Treaty of Transit and the Treaty of Trade, amendments to the Rail Services Agreements, measures taken for investment promotion, the constitution of Joint Business Forum, harmonization of standards as well as synchronized development of trade infrastructure on the two sides, according to Indian Embassy in Kathmandu.
The two sides also discussed in detail various government-level initiatives that need to be taken in the future for further enhancing trade and commercial linkages.
The Inter-Governmental Sub-Committee (IGSC) at the level of Joint Secretaries met on 3-4 December 2020 in the preparation for the IGC meeting.
India remains the largest trade and investment partner of Nepal both in terms of Nepali imports and Nepali exports.
In fact, India is the only trading partner of Nepal with whom Nepali exports have consistently increased in the last two to three years.
The wide-ranging discussions today and the progress made in the meeting are expected to further support the expansion in economic and commercial ties between India and Nepal.
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