Govt stepping up efforts to exit EU safety list: Minister

KATHMANDU: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Khadak Raj Poudel has said the government is making intensive efforts at technical, institutional and diplomatic levels to remove Nepal from the European Union (EU) air safety list.

Responding to a question from lawmaker Niskal Rai during Tuesday’s House of Representatives meeting, Minister Poudel said the government has given high priority to addressing the concerns that have kept Nepal on the list since 2013.

Poudel said the term “blacklist” carries negative and discriminatory connotations and that “air safety list” would be a more technically appropriate term. He said the government was working to address the findings identified during the EU’s on-site flight safety assessment conducted in September 2023.

According to Poudel, Nepal submitted a detailed corrective action plan to the EU on June 5, 2026. The EU is expected to review the plan after its upcoming summer recess.

The minister also identified the lack of separation between the aviation regulator and service provider as one of the challenges facing Nepal’s aviation safety system. He said the government has drafted a bill to establish the two functions under separate institutional structures and plans to table it in Parliament for approval.

Poudel said the government is also conducting various training programmes and workshops in coordination with international partners, including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), to strengthen aviation safety.

He added that diplomatic efforts have been stepped up in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Poudel said he had held discussions with the EU ambassador to Nepal as well as resident and non-resident ambassadors of EU member states, briefing them on Nepal’s reform measures and commitments.

Responding to a supplementary question from Rai, Poudel said the government was pursuing the removal of Nepal from the air safety list through both diplomatic initiatives and concrete, measurable reforms.