New Delhi, August 21 :

The inter-governmental committee meeting between Nepal and India will begin here from tomorrow. The meeting will review the Indo-Nepal Transit Treaty that will expire on March 5, 2007 and clear obstacles in the trade, investment and industrial sectors between the two countries.

The 15-member Nepalese team will be led by secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Bharat Bahadur Thapa. 13 members of the team, except secretary Thapa and joint secretary of the Ministry of Finance Ram Kumar Shrestha, arrived here this afternoon.

Joint secretary of the Ministry of Industry Ngaindra Prasad Upadhyaya, on behalf of Nepal, will lead the joint secretary level meeting, while his counterpart will be Rajiv Kher, said the Nepalese Embassy in New Delhi. The secretary-level meeting will be held in the Indian Ministry of Commerce in which secretary Thapa’s counterpart will be SK Menon.

The inter-governmental committee meeting which is due in every six months in accordance with the bilateral agreement is taking place after 31 months due to the political stalemate that surfaced in Nepal.

“Nepal will raise such issues including its already proposed 41 agendas including automatic renewal of the treaty, waiver of four per cent additional tax, upgrading of customs offices,” economic minister in the Nepalese Embassy in New Delhi Lal Mani Joshi said, adding: “However, the agendas of the Indian side are still not known.”