The Fourth meeting of Nepal- India Joint Commission at Foreign Ministers’ level has proposed after mid-August in New Delhi and date will be fixed during the upcoming India visit of Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa.

Thapa is embarking on his fifth visit of India on Friday after the formation of the UML-led government, and his meeting with Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj is expected to pave the way for a meeting of the highest level mechanism between the two countries and fix its date.

Apart from reviewing the existing status of the bilateral ties and resolving the issue, the meeting also paves the way for future cooperation.  

Ahead of joint commission meeting, Nepal and India are all set to conclude meetings of all bilateral mechanisms including Commerce and Energy Secretaries at the end of this month. Similarly first meeting of Nepal- India Eminent Persons’ Group is also meeting in Kathmandu on July 4-5.

One of my important agendas of the visit is to fix the date and agenda of the fourth meeting of the joint commission, Thapa told the Post on Wednesday.  India side has indicated to host such meeting after mid of August. The last meeting took place in Kathmandu from July 25-27, 2014 that paved the way of the visit if Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Nepal.

Officials said that to set the tone of the meeting, Nepal and India have to conclude the meetings of existing bilateral mechanisms at various levels. Both sides have already concluded some meetings of bilateral mechanism and some are going to take place in near future in New Delhi.

The most dominated agenda for the joint commission would be commerce, trade, transit and energy.

For this, the meeting of Inter Governmental Committee (IGC) at Commerce Secretary level is going to take place in New Delhi on June 28 and 29 Similarly,  meeting of Energy Secretaries of Nepal and India is also taking place in New Delhi on June 26 and 27.

 Sources said issues like negotiating Nepal-India Bilateral Trade Treaty that is going to expire in coming October and allowing Nepali nationals living and working in India to open bank account and sending remittance to Nepal are two new agendas which Indian side is positive. Similarly, upgrading numbers of currency counters that will facilitate traders is also an agenda for the meeting.

Energy cooperation is another key agenda of the commission where the meeting of energy secretaries will set the further tone, said officials.

The commission meeting will also discuss political issues between Nepal and India particularly aftermath of the promulgation of the new constitution in last September including matters related to security, trade, investment, transit, energy, reconstruction, status of India funded projects in Nepal, boundary and border, combating cross border crimes, future Indian cooperation in road, railways and other infrastructure related projects, cross border transmission line, energy cooperation and trading, water resources, embankments, various India funded scholarships and training slots, using Indian line of credits and fixing projects under the line of projects, culture, tourism, agriculture and others.