Kathmandu, August 22

The two-day long Nepal-China commerce joint secretary-level talks concluded today with the signing of agreement for starting operations at the Zhangmu (Tatopani) and Jilong (Rasuwagadhi) border points, early construction of Larcha (Tatopani) inland container depot (ICD) and frontier inspection station of ICD Timure (Rasuwagadhi) and establishing infrastructure at six additional border points.

There has been an agreement to improve the infrastructure at six check points, namely, Yari, Humla — Poraag; Olangchung Gola, Taplejung — Riwa; Jumla — Penan; Mustang — Lizi; Larke, Gorkha — Tibet and Kimathanka, Sankhuwasabha — Riwa in a bid to boost bilateral trade. Currently, Tatopani and Rasuwa are the major customs points for trade with China via land.

The meeting also proposed to conduct a feasibility study for three additional routes — Lamabagar of Dolakha, Mugu and Chhekampar of Gorkha district and concerned border points of Tibet. “The feasibility study of the proposed routes will be conducted soon and the next meeting of the commerce joint secretaries of the two countries will recommend the higher level authority about the status of the proposed routes,” said Jib Raj Koirala, joint secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) and head of the Nepali delegation.

Both the sides said that they have realised the need for developing well facilitated infrastructure at the check points after the devastating earthquake of April 25. Though it has already been three months since the temblor struck, the quake inflicted damages at the customs points in Tatopani and Jilong (Rasuwagadhi) are yet to be repaired to bring the ports into operation.

Both sides also agreed on working hour harmonisation at the customs points and promoting banking channel in bilateral trade.The Nepal-China commerce joint secretary-level talks, which is known as Nepal-China’s Tibet Trade Facilitation Committee (NTTFC) also discussed about the process simplification of ‘duty free quota free’ (DFQF) facility extended by the Chinese government for 8,030 Nepali products on all tariff lines.

Apart from this, both sides agreed on early implementation of the agreement on extending recognition for lab test certificate of industrial products, simplifying the quarantine checks and also reducing the non-tariff measures. The meeting also decided to sign Mutual Recognition Agreement for easy access of agricultural and livestock products in each other’s market.

MoCS Joint Secretary Koirala and Cai Den Nan Jie, deputy secretary general of the commerce ministry of China signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments.The seventh meeting of the NTTFC is scheduled to be held in Lhasa in 2016.