January 06, 2020
Kathmandu: A planned tripartite meeting on energy cooperation between Nepal, India and Bangladesh, which was earlier fixed for September 12, has not been held even after nearly four months of the planned schedule.
With an aim to address the key concerns related to cross-border transmission lines, power trade and energy banking, the government had said it is gearing up to hold discussions with power ministers of India and Bangladesh. However, due to the lack of coordination between the energy ministers of the three countries the uncertainty behind the energy cooperation meeting has been rising.
A few months ago, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Barsha Man Pun, had claimed that India’s Minister of State for Power RK Singh and Bangladesh’s Minister of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid had confirmed their participation in the discussion to be held in Kathmandu.
As per the initial agreement made by the three countries, the Indian External Affairs Ministry was assigned the responsibility to call the meeting as soon as possible.
But the Indian ministry is yet to coordinate with Nepal and Bangladesh.
Minister Pun expects the Indian External Affairs Ministry to call the meeting soon. “We are working in close coordination with the concerned Indian authorities to expedite the preparation works.”
Source: The Himalayan Times
