Kathmandu | Maeeshat

4th BIMSTEC Summit in Kathmandu from August 30

by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Events, World

Kathmandu : The 4th BIMSTEC Summit will be held here on August 30 and 31, Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday.

“We have started preparations to ensue the success of the summit,” Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali told reporters here.

Nepal is the current Chair of the BIMSTEC.

“It is an important regional gathering in Kathmandu after the promulgation of the new Nepalese Constitution and formation of the new government in the Himalayan nation. The government attaches high importance to the summit, for which we have formed several committees,” he said.

India is actively rooting for BIMSTEC as New Delhi has already hosted its leaders at the BRICS Outreach Summit in 2016 in Goa.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) has as members seven nations of South Asia and Southeast Asia — Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal.

As per a decision of the 6th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting in Thailand in 2004, the summit should be held every two years, as far as possible. However, till date, summit meetings have been held only in 2004, 2008 and 2014.

Senior officials will meet on August 28, followed by a ministerial meeting on August 30. Heads of State and government of seven member-states will meet on August 31.

—IANS

Nepal Airlines to resume Kolkata-Kathmandu flights

by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Buzz

Kolkata:(IANS) Nepal Airlines is likely to resume direct flights between Kolkata and Kathmandu by October-November, Nepal’s envoy to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay said on Friday.

“To begin with it will be thrice a week and the frequency may increase based on the volume of business,” he told the media here on the sidelines of an event organised by CII.

The carrier will operate the narrow-bodied Airbus A320 which has a seating capacity of 160.

“Flight services were stopped three years earlier due to lack of aircraft,” he said.

Nepal Airlines has direct flight services to Kathmandu from New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

As of now, only Air India operates direct flights between Kolkata and Kathmandu.

According to the envoy, the proposed trade route across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) is expected to be operational by next month.

“There were some procedural issues like stamping of vehicles, registration of the same and so on, which had to be sorted out. Hopefully, by next month the vehicular and goods movement should start,” he said.