By Our Reporter
The two-day bilateral meeting between Nepal and India to review the Transit Treaty that started on Tuesday in the Capital turned a milestone for Nepal to operate inland waterways to transport goods from Kolkata Port to three different river ports in India near Nepal border.
The meeting technically resolved the issues of inland waterways, allowing Nepali importers to change the freight destination point at the Nepal-India border, according to officials at the Ministry Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS).
Joint Secretary Navaraj Dhakal led a nine-member Nepali delegation in the meeting. Joint-Secretary of the Commerce and Industry Ministry of India Bhupinder Singh Bhalla is leading an eight-member delegation.
In the meeting, India agreed to provide waterways facilities up to Shahebgunj, Kalughat and Varanasi from Kolkata Port.
With the signing of the agreement on Wednesday, Nepal’s dream to use waterways to transport cargo and operate its own ships would be materialised in near future.
Transhipment is the transportation of goods or containers to intermediate and then to another destination, sometimes by changing the means of transport as well.
Past studies have shown that the cost of Nepali export goods is about 15 per cent higher than the neighbouring countries. But once the agreement comes into implementation, the transportation cost would go down by almost a half.
Ministry officials termed the Tuesday’s meeting as a kind of a ‘break-through’ in terms of inland waterways. However, there were no discussions about the use of waterways from the three designated river ports to Nepal.
Nepali traders should use land route to transport goods from Shahebgunj, Kalughat and Varanasi.
Similarly, the two sides agreed to allow the movement of bulk cargo through the Bhairahawa-Sunauli border. Nepal will have the facility of bulk cargo movement for the goods like cement, coal and chemical fertilisers.
Earlier, in August this year, Special Secretary (Logistics) of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India N. Sivasailam had assured that India would soon allow Nepali importers to change the freight destination point at the Nepal-India border.
Nepal and India had signed the Transit Treaty in 1978. The treaty was renewed in 2013 although it has a provision to renew automatically. The two countries review the treaty to incorporate the latest issues and address the problems in bilateral trade.
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