The India and Nepal Inter-Government Committee (IGC) on Trade, Transit and Cooperation held talks last week to control unauthorised trade between the two countries and work out ways to ease movement of cargo through each other’s territory.

The IGC led by the Commerce Secretaries of the two Governments functions under the India-Nepal Treaty of Trade and India-Nepal Treaty of Transit, and provides platform for discussing and reviewing bilateral trade and transit related issues.

The Indian delegation was led by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia while her counterpart Chandra Kumar Ghimire headed the Nepali delegation. According to Indian High Commission in Kathmandu, the two sides held “extensive and productive discussions” on a variety of issues concerning bilateral trade, transit and economic relations. “The meeting concluded with several landmark decisions aimed at boosting the bilateral trade and investment ties significantly,” the embassy said in a statement.

Both countries agreed to initiate a comprehensive review of the bilateral ‘Treaty of Trade’ by July 2018. This Treaty was last revised in 2009. Amendments to the bilateral Rs Treaty of Transit', signed in 1999, was also discussed to further facilitate transit movement of Nepal's trade with third countries by expanding transit points, simplification of procedures, electronic cargo tracking and also enabling movement of Indian cargo through Nepali territory. Officials said both sides aim to consolidate all earlier amendments to the Treaty of Transit, within a month.

Since most bilateral trade takes place through land customs stations across the border between India and Nepal, the two countries also agreed on synchronised development of border trade infrastructure to ensure timely utilisation of the investment in border infrastructure. In order to enhance the volume of trade, the two countries emphasised the need for bilateral harmonisation of standards and expediting progress on MoUs between concerned agencies including BIS and FSSAI from the Indian side. The two sides further agreed to work towards mutual recognition of each  other's testing and certifications.

In order to ensure regular inputs from business and investors, both sides had earlier agreed to constitute India-Nepal Joint Business Forum consisting of industry representatives from the two countries that will function as an institutional B2B mechanism for providing policy level inputs on trade and investment. Both countries are aiming at holding the first meeting of the Forum shortly.