The government has started an internal process to endorse the Saarc regional motor vehicle and railway agreements likely to be signed in the Kathmandu summit in November.
“We had an inter-ministerial meeting on the issue last week where we agreed to start the internal process and sent a formal letter to the ministries concerned on Sunday,” said an official of the Foreign Ministry.
Earlier, the member states at the Saarc Intergovernmental Group meeting in New Delhi this month agreed with the texts of Saarc regional agreements on motor vehicles and railways to improve connectivity in the region.
Communications and railway ministries, the line ministries for the agreements, would now interact with all relevant stakeholders, including Home Ministry, National Board of Revenue and Commerce Ministry to get their views and submit the final text to the Law Ministry for vetting. Later, it would be submitted to the cabinet for approval to complete the internal process.
“It is expected that communications ministers of the Saarc countries will have a meeting before the Kathmandu summit,” the official said.
Motor vehicle
In the motor vehicle agreement, it was proposed how private cars, commercially run buses, ambulances and commercial cargoes could move across the region.
The draft text also stipulated that drivers must have special driving licences, cars must have certain fitness level and there must be a regional insurance coverage for any accident.
Respective taxation offices of these countries would deal with only transit fees and charges as well as other customs.
“Experts in the region had a meeting in Rajasthan of India in September and submitted their final report for consideration. It was approved in the New Delhi meeting,” said an official of the Communications Ministry.
Railway agreement
The railway agreement would provide a framework under which the member states could facilitate train movement across the region.
“Bangladesh and India have railway agreement and trains can move through borders. Similarly, other countries can have such agreement to facilitate train movement,” said an official of the Foreign Ministry.
He added: “If Bangladesh, India and Nepal want to have train communication, they can make arrangements under the agreement.”