E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, DEC 27 -  

After a decade-long hiatus, Nepal and India are all set to hold the second meeting of the Joint Commission, the highest-level bilateral mechanism, in early March.

The meeting is expected to review the entire gamut of bilateral relations and also pave the way for the visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Nepal in near future.

"We have proposed holding the meeting in early March,” said a highly-placed source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Indian side made separate requests to the Prime Minister's Office and the MoFA last week about convening the meeting in mid-February. Citing inadequacy of preparations, Nepal had proposed that the meet be deferred by one month.

In February 1991, during the Nepal visit of the then Indian PM Chandra Shekhar, both the sides had agreed, inter alia, to form a high-level task force for the purpose of preparing a programme of cooperation between the two countries under the umbrella of Nepal-India Joint Commission. Since its first meeting in New Delhi following its inception in 1991, the commission has not met. The respective foreign ministers of the two countries head the commission.

The meeting is expected to discuss the status of bilateral issues of economic cooperation, trade, transit, industries, water resources and any other concern of mutual interest. The JC is expected to finalise the terms of reference of the proposed Eminent Persons' Group to look into the totality of India-Nepal relations, seek a modality of working on a new Nepal-India Peace and Friendship Treaty, and finalise and sign the boundary maps, among others issues.

Nepal and India have already held meetings of Join Committee on Water Resources and commerce-secretary level Inter-governmental Committee to prepare ground for the Joint Commission meeting. “As part of the preparation, we will hold home secretary-level talks in mid-January in New Delhi, which will discuss security issues,” sources added.

In a recent conversation with journalists, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha said that recent meetings with India were setting positive tones and that the southern neighbour had been exhibiting liberal approaches towards sorting out the pending issues.

Posted on: 2011-12-27 04:15

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