Kathmandu, December 22

Rameshwar Thapa, president of the Airlines Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN), paid courtesy call on Otsuka Hiroshi, director general of The Scheduled Airlines Association of Japan (TSAAJ) at the latter's office in Tokyo on Wednesday.

During the meeting, the two sides expressed their commitments and discussed ways to explore mutual cooperation between the two associations and the two countries. They also discussed bilateral exchanges, exchange of aviation practices and cooperation on flight safety management.

On the occasion, Thapa stressed on the need to promote and enhance the quality of direct flights between Japan and Nepal alongside highlighting Nepal as a global destination of aviation-related endurance tests. He also invited Hiroshi and a delegation of TSAAJ to attend the 'Aero Summit', scheduled to be held at Kathmandu in March.

Welcoming the initiative taken by AOAN, Hiroshi assured on holding talks with members of Japanese airlines operators to conduct direct flights to Nepal and added that this will promote tourism of both countries.

Likewise, Motoyuki Odachi, former member of parliament of Japan, said that Japanese airlines are positive about conducting direct flights to Nepal and talks related to the topic are currently underway.

Durga Bahadur Subedi, Nepal's ambassador to Japan; Santosh Poudel, advisor for NRNA-Japan; and Sanat Neupane, CEO of Simrik Ventures Group, among others, were also present in the meeting.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 23, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.