Kathmandu, August 18
Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Khadak Raj Paudel (Ganesh) has said that removing Nepal from the European Union’s (EU) Air Safety List is a top priority for the government.
Responding to questions from lawmakers in the House of Representatives, he said the government was pursuing both technical and institutional reforms as well as diplomatic initiatives to address the issue.
He said the government has also requested the EU ambassador and EU member states to support Nepal’s removal from the list. He also urged officials not to refer to the EU restriction as a blacklist.
Nepal’s aviation industry has been under EU restrictions since 2013. Paudel said further reforms would be carried out based on additional feedback from the EU.
He said work was also underway on bills to separate the regulatory and service-provider functions of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, as the two functions are currently handled by the same institution.
