Kathmandu: The Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) has welcomed the successful visit of Nepal’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shisir Khanal, to India and the bilateral discussions held with India’s External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar, in New Delhi on June 6.
According to NICCI, it has been encouraged by the comprehensive review of bilateral cooperation covering trade and transit, connectivity, energy, development partnership, and people-to-people relations, particularly the renewed commitment of both governments to strengthen cooperation in innovation, startups, digital technology, fintech, and capacity building.
The launch of the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) linkage between India’s UPI and Nepal’s NPI is a significant milestone that will facilitate cross-border remittances, tourism, and small business transactions, NICCI Secretariat said. “Likewise, the MoU between Digital India Bhashini and Kathmandu University represents a positive step towards digital innovation and language technology cooperation.”
While appreciating the progress achieved, NICCI has urged the governments of Nepal and India to prioritize modernization of trade infrastructure and border facilities, simplification of customs and regulatory procedures, expansion of rail, road, air and multimodal connectivity, timely implementation of energy and infrastructure projects, promotion of bilateral investments and resolution of non-tariff barriers, expansion of digital payment systems and stronger institutional dialogue between Governments and the private sector.
NICCI has reiterated that the development in infrastructure connectivity and energy cooperation remains the strongest pillars of Nepal-India economic relations and has called for accelerated implementation of infrastructure for the connectivity, hydropower projects, transmission lines, and long-term power trade arrangements. According to NICCI, it is committed to working with stakeholders in both countries to further strengthen and facilitate trade, investment, connectivity, energy cooperation, and economic partnership between Nepal and India.
