Nepal and India are set to review the Nepal-India Transit Treaty that expires on March 5, 2007, a leading Nepali English newspaper reported on Tuesday.

India's Ministry of Commerce was quoted by The Himalayan newspaper as saying that the two sides will hold a meeting in the last week of May and that it has informed the Nepali side to make necessary preparations for the same.

The First Secretary at the Nepalese Embassy in New Delhi, Lal Mani Joshi, said the meeting will be held soon.

Nepal's then minister of commerce Gopal Man Shrestha and the current finance minister of India, P Chidambaram, endorsed the treaty for the first time after democracy was restored in Nepal in 1990.

According the newspaper, India is likely to cancel the four percent extra customs duty imposed in goods exported to India from Nepal after Nepali Prime Minister (PM) Girija Rasa Koirala visits India, sources here said.

Meanwhile, Indian PM Man Mohan Singh has written to Koirala inviting him to visit the country.

Currently, Nepali products are having a tough time competing with Indian ones in the market due to the extra four percent customs duty.

Source: Xinhua