Kathmandu [Nepal], August 22: India and Nepal held their fifth round of Indo-Nepal Joint Commission conference in the Nepali capital Kathmandu and inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) on food safety and standards.
In an official statement, the Nepali foreign ministry said, “An MoU on Food Safety and Standards between the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) of Nepal and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was signed and exchanged in the presence of the two ministers.”
Nepal’s foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and Indian external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday co-chaired the meeting, including the respective team of the delegation, according to ANI news reports.
Jaishankar, who arrived in Kathmandu on Wednesday, met Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and discussed a range of issues of their mutual interest.
During the bilateral meeting, the two nations reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral ties focusing over the sectors of economic and connectivity partnership, transit and trade, water and power resources sectors, education and culture.
The statement further added: “The Joint Commission expressed happiness over the momentum generated in the overall aspects of Nepal-India relations following the exchange of high-level visits in the past two years. Views were exchanged on the review of Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 and submission of a report of the Eminent Persons Group on Nepal-India Relations (EPG-NIR). Matters related to cooperation in international, regional and sub-regional fora were also discussed.”
The joint commission also expressed the greatness for the completion of the bilateral projects – post-earthquake reconstruction of local housing in Nepali districts of Gorkha and Nuwakot, four sectors of Hulaki Roads, and Motihari-Amlekhgunj Petroleum Products Pipeline.
Moreover, it further agreed to speed up the completion of previous remaining programmes, said the ministry.
Nepal and India expressed satisfaction over the progress made in three new sectors – Inland Waterways, New Partnership in Agriculture, and Raxaul-Kathmandu Electrified Rail Line, agreed during Oli’s official visit to New Delhi in April 2018.
The two sides agreed to deepen their cooperation in sectors of socio-economic development, including the tourism segment. Additional airspace entry routes to Nepal is underway between both nation’s civil aviation authorities over an official request by Nepal.
In addition, Nepal’s Indian ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri handed two cheques for Post-earthquake reconstruction project and Terai Roads Project over to Devendra Regmi, the ministry of physical infrastructure and transport’s secretary, and National Reconstruction Authority CEO Sushil Gyawali respectively.