Kathmandu, September 29

Nepal and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed the revised Air Services Agreement (ASA).

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) Yogesh Bhattarai and Minister for Finance of UAE Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansoori inked the agreement on Saturday at the 40th session of the International Civil Aviation Organisation Assembly, which is underway in Montreal, Canada.

Nepal and UAE had inked ASA for first time in 1999. However, the government had been working to revise the ASA in line with the increasing flow of people to and from UAE and the demand for increased number of flights.

“The new agreement with the UAE ensures an increase in flights between the two nations,” said Suresh Acharya, joint secretary at MoCTCA.

In a bid to diversify the country’s air connectivity, the government lately has been signing ASA with different countries. The government is also gearing up to ink ASA with Australia. As per MoCTCA officials, the government has received a positive response from the Australian government on the draft of memorandum of understanding for the ASA

between the two nations.

Likewise, the government is also in the process of negotiating with the Thai government to revise the old ASA, which was signed in 1971 to operate daily flights to Thailand.