Kathmandu, March 22:

The meeting of Experts’ Group from member countries of the BIMSTEC, which was concluded here yesterday, has discussed ‘visa simplification’ for the business sector people in a bid to boost trade and investment opportunities in the region.

BIMSTEC is a club of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Currently, the procedure for obtaining visa for businesspersons remain the same as everybody else.

According to Naindra Prasad Upadhyaya, joint secretary at the ministry of industry, commerce and supplies and chief of the eight member Nepali delegation informed that the two-day long meeting concluded at Dhulilkhel, Kavre yesterday had discussed at length the issues of ‘visa simplification’ for businesspersons in the BIMSTEC region. It will ultimately boost business, trade and investment opportunities regionally, hoped Upadhyaya.

He said that issues such as BIMSTEC Business Visa Sticker Scheme and BIMSTEC Business Visa Exemption Scheme have been discussed. However, the sticker system is found to be more convenient, as per experts’ opinion.

Experts from all BIMSTEC nations have reached an understanding to expedite the process of visa simplification procedures in days to come as this is the first meeting held in Nepal, informed Upadhayaya. The visa provision is termed as a special privilege given only to bona-fide businesspeople at the regional level, according to him.

The eighth ministerial meeting of BIMSTEC held in Dhaka in December 2005 had decided to simplify visa procedures. The same meeting had given a mandate to the expert group at the regional level which is headed by joint secretary level staff from their respective countries’ ministries.

The next meeting on this issue is scheduled to be held in New Delhi during July-August, 2006, according to the ministry staff. The concept of giving privilege to bona-fide businesspersons was developed at the sixth ministerial meeting of BIMSTEC held in Thailand, Phuket in 2004.

However, detailed mechanisms regarding visa procedures for business sector is yet to be developed which may take some time, according to officials at the ministry of industry, commerce and supplies.