EPG on Nepal-India Relations meet ends 'on positive note'

KATHMANDU: The third meeting of the Eminent Persons Group on Nepal-India Relations ended "on positive note" in Kathmandu on Thursday.

The bilateral meeting, however, could not yield any concrete fruit, according to the sources.

The two-day meeting discussed all agendas listed for the same including the 1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty, and both sides were positive to continue the discussions further, the EPG coordinator from Nepali side Bhekh Bahadur Thapa told THT Online.

He informed that the next meeting would take place in Dehradun of India on May 29-31.

On the first day of the meeting Wednesday, the Nepali side had made a presentation on the 1950 treaty, stressing some points were against the principles of sovereignty. It is, however, learned that the Indian side is yet to give feedback on the presentation.

There are Thapa, Nilamber Acharya, Rajan Bhattarai and Surya Nath Upadhyay from the Nepali side, and Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Jayant Prasad, BC Upreti and Mahendra P. Lama from the Indian side in the EPG.

The EPG-NIR is a joint mechanism of Nepal and India and was set up in February last year to give necessary suggestions to update all existing bilateral treaties and agreements.

Its first meeting was held in Kathmandu in July and second meeting in New Delhi in October last year.