Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, January 29:

Tourism Minister Deep Kumar Upadhyay recently met German officials and authorities in Frankfurt and parliamentarians in Berlin after attending the Nepal Day programme in Frankfurt on Monday.

Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), in its statement, said Upadhyay met executive director Dr Stefan Schulte and director of Frankfurt Airport Services (FAS). FAS authorities showed keen interest in providing airport management consultations and work in joint-venture projects concerning airport operation and consultancy services in Nepal. They assured Upadhyay of providing immediate slot to the RNAC for its resumption of flights to Frankfurt. Upadhyay also attended a luncheon hosted in his honour by the German South Asia Parliamentary Group led by parliamentarian Johannes P Flug along with other MPs Holger Ortel and Josef Winkler in Berlin. Upadhyay briefed the group on the current political, socio- economic situation in Nepal and hoped to see direct air links between Nepal and Germany. He sought Germany’s cooperation in resuming Lufthansa flights to Kathmandu, technical cooperation to strengthen RNAC and bringing in German investment to Nepal.

P Flug committed to provide necessary technical cooperation to strengthen RNAC. The German delegation also expressed concern on the environmental issues, particularly mountain tourism in Nepal. Upadhyay also paid a visit to the Headquarters of Transparency International (TI) in Berlin where he was received by Peter Rooke, Regional Director for Asia and Pacific.

“The minister briefed the director on the positive changes in formulating polices, rules and regulations in Nepal and invited the director to hold their conferences in Nepal,” states the NTB release.