Kathmandu, December 24
The government of Nepal has resumed talks with India in its efforts to sign a government-to-government deal so as to purchase chemical fertilisers from India.
The Ministry of Agriculture says a virtual meeting was held between concerned officials of two countries on Wednesday.
Nepal is suffering from the chemical fertiliser crisis since early this year due to different factors including the Covid-19 pandemic and the contractors’ failure to keep their promises. Recently, the government has signed an agreement for the import of fertilisers from Bangladesh in the government-to-government trade model.
In addition, the government resumed its talks with India, halted around a year ago, according to the ministry’s spokesperson Hari Bahadur KC. However, no concrete achievement was made yesterday, he informs.
Nonetheless, Nepali officials informed India of its interest to buy fertilisers from the neighbouring country and sought its opinion on that during the meeting, KC says.
In response, the Indian side said it was positive about the proposal, adding the issues would be finalised after further discussions. However, it is not clear when the next meeting will take place.
