India has requested Nepal to set up its Consulate General Office at Visakhapatnam port in order to facilitate the works related to clearances of cargo in the field.

Speaking at a programme 'Nepal-India Trade Transit and connectivity: Issues and Facilities' organised here at Visakhapatnam on Tuesday, M.T Krishna Babu, Chairman of Visakhapatnam Port, said that it is necessary to open office as soon as possible to facilitate the trade as the port has already been operationalised for Nepal.

 "If there is consulate office, it will make the process of clearance faster and efficient. Lack of office takes more time in the process," said Babu.  Currently Nepal Embassy in New Delhi has the mandate to look after this port.

As this port is high-tech, Embassy is conducting all necessary clearance related works, and it takes just 24 hours for the clearance of cargo from third countries.

"While in the Kolkata port it takes more than a week for the dispatch of cargo," he said. Officials said this port is more transparent in comparison to Kolkata and businessmen will not have to pay additional charges.

Few months back, a joint-team of Ministry Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Commerce had conducted a study on establishing office at the port. There also views that there is no need of establishing office as the traffic at the port is very low.

Babu, who had also served as Chairman of Kolkata Port, said that this port is very effective and less-time consuming. "Kolkata is nearer than this port and well equipped in terms of facilities. Businessmen won’t have to pay informal and other charges," he said. Before this port came into operation last week, India was providing a single transit to sea-Kolkata Port.

India had agreed in principle to allow Nepal to use Vishakhapatnam Port in 2009, but a final agreement was delayed after Nepal opposed the double lock system that India implemented on Nepal-bound cargos. Last year, Nepal and India exchanged the letters of purpose for using this port.

 The opening of an alternative transit route is expected to ease trade with third countries.

 At the programme, Indian officials suggested Nepal to hold the meetings with businessmen so that problems faced by them could be resolved and make this port more effective for Nepal.

Speaking at the program, Nepalese Ambassador to New Delhi Deep Kumar Upadyay said, "We have chosen this smart and growing city as the event venue in the context of the important bilateral agreement last year regarding the use of Visakhapatnam Port by Nepal."

Krishna H. Pushkar, Minister (Economic) at Nepali Embassy in New Delhi, said the high-tech port has been conducting all the tasks without delay. "This port is very useful for Nepal in terms of efficiency and time," said Pushkar.

"As our traders are keenly assessing how they can make the best and most beneficial use of the highly modern port facilities available at Visakhapatnam for transit, it is logical that we choose the city to hold this discussion on trade and transit issues," he added.

 Presenting a paper titled ‘Nepal-India trade: institutional technical framework and way forward, Economist Achyut Wagle said,

Presenting a paper titled Nepal-India trade: institutional technical framework and way forward, Economist Achyut Wagle said, "This port to be attractive for Nepali traders, it must be able to upset extra cost incurred due to additional 700 km distance than the Kolkata port. It is possible by time-saving in processing the cargo, avoiding the hidden-cost and reducing the handling charges."

Wagle suggested institutional reform and adopt of information technology both in trade governance and financial transaction in entire Nepal-India trade.

 In the program, some participants raised the issues of delay in port like Kolkata and asked to resolve them as soon possible.

At the programme, some participants raised the issues of delay in port like Kolkata and asked to resolve them as soon possible.