Nepal and India amended bilateral transit treaty

India and Nepal amended a bilateral transit treaty on 2 February 2014. The amendment to the export procedure in the Memorandum to the Protocol to the Treaty of Transit of 1999 will facilitate the transit of goods of third country origin exported from Nepal.

This amendment in the provisions of the Treaty of Transit brought into effect a significant decision which was reached between the two sides during the Nepal-India Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) meeting on Trade, Transit and Cooperation to Control Unauthorised Trade held in Kathmandu, Nepal on 21 – 22 December 2013

The amendments in the transit treaty will

•    Facilitate the re-export of goods imported to Nepal for fairs and exhibitions.
•    Facilitate re-export of third country origin capital goods from Nepal for repair and return as well as re-export of rejected goods from Nepal.
•    Facilitate Nepalese businesses as it will lead to re-export of goods imported from third countries after value addition, for which a legal provision was made in Finance Act of 2009.
•    Allow the movement of diplomatic cargo exported from Nepal and transiting through India.

During the IGC held in Kathmandu, Nepal in December 2013, the two sides also discussed other important trade facilitation measures. These were allowing the movement of imported vehicles on their own power from Kolkata to Nepal and facilitating the import of bulk cargo to Nepal by operationalising the multi-modal transport link from Kolkata port through Jogbani – Biratnagar and Sunauli – Bhairahawa land routes.

About India-Nepal bilateral trade

Nepal and India have a history of age-old relations in trade and commerce. India is the largest trade partner of Nepal and source of foreign investment.

Total bilateral trade has reached US 3.21 billion dollar during Nepalese fiscal year 2009-10. During that year, Nepal’s imports from India amounted US 2.71 billion dollar and exports to India remained about US 0.50 billion dollar.