Nepal to become transit point between China, India: official

A one-year internal homework to develop Nepal as a transit point between China and India has received a fresh impetus, a governmental official said Friday in Kathmandu.

The Nepali Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies has carried out a study and submitted its recommendations, Purushottam Ojha, secretary at the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management, told reporters.

"We now need to have a trilateral agreement and start working on north-south transit road development," Ojha, who has worked for a long time in transit sector, added.

The ministry's report recommended that Nepal should provide the transit facility with the objective of expanding its service sector and physical infrastructure development, Ojha said.

According to Ojha, the report has also identified three alternative routes linking the three countries for the purpose apart from the existing Birgunj-Kathmandu-Tatopani route.

Nepal would need to build dry port in Tatopani, Kimathanka and other border points with China as well, Ojha said.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Binod Bahadur Shrestha has informed that the federation is going to hold a trilateral discussion among businessmen and traders of the three countries on the issue of Nepal working as transit point.

Nepali King Gyanendra had communicated Nepal's readiness to become a transit point during his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of recent Asian-African Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia.