Though the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) had wanted to renew the treaty by incorporating five newly agreed transit routes, it was forced to roll back the plan as the government could not arrange the much-needed bilateral meeting to finalize their operating modality due to strong objection from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) over a provision of additional lock included in the new draft.[break]
As the treaty is expiring on January 5, and there is little time to finalize the outstanding issues, MoCS had proposed to the cabinet to go for its automatic renewal.
"The cabinet on Thursday endorsed our proposal, following which we have formally requested India through MoFA to automatically renew the treaty," said Commerce Secretary Lal Mani Joshi. The cabinet meeting also delegated authority to Joshi to sign the renewed treaty on behalf of the government.
A highly-placed source at MoCS told Republica that renewal of the treaty without any changes ends the immediate possibility of utilizing the five recently agreed transit routes, fully operationalizing the Vishakapatnam sea port -- the new port opened for Nepal´s third country trade -- and operating cargo train between inland container depot (ICD) in Birgunj and Bangladesh.
For the last couple of years MoCS has been pushing for the earliest operation of those routes as they were expected to ease the movement of cargoes in transit. The private-sector operated Visakhapatnam port is far more efficient than the state-run Kolkata port.
Similarly, operations of other routes, particularly operations of direct rail cargoes between Birgunj and Rohanpur in Bangladesh would have greatly facilitated Nepal´s trade with Bangladesh as well.
Despite series of requests by MoCS to call a bilateral meeting to finalize the details for operating those routes, MoFA had cold shouldered its call, saying it did not endorse India´s proposal to impose additional lock on third country cargo containers bound for Nepal from Visakhapatnam sea port.
"Foreign Minister Narayankaji Shrestha was dead against the provision as according to him it goes against the interest of Nepal and threatens to curb Nepal´s transit rights," said the source.
Interestingly, MoCS had moved ahead with the new draft which included India´s long-pushed additional lock provision upon direct instructions from the prime minister. A section of the business community and experts have been saying that additional lock will not create hassles, but ensure smooth movement of cargoes.
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