NEW DELHI: With an aim to boost bilateral trade and people-to-people contact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nepalese counterpart KP Sharma Oli on Tuesday inaugurated Jogbani-Biratnagar Integrated Check Post.
The ICP, which is built with Indian assistance, is spread over 260 acres and is capable of handling 500 trucks daily. The first ICP was built in Raxaul-Birganj in 2018.
“India is committed to simplifying and smoothening traffic with all friendly countries in the neighbourhood, and to further facilitate contacts between us in areas such as business, culture and education,” Modi said after the inauguration.
Both leaders also checked on the progress in India-assisted post-earthquake housing reconstruction projects.
Out of 50,000 houses to be built in Gorkha and Nuwakot districts, 45,000 have already been completed.
Addressing the event via video, Oli invited Modi to visit Nepal. PM Modi said he looks forward to a visit to the neighbouring country this year.
“I wish that with your cooperation and support in the new year, we take our relationship to a higher level. And this new decade becomes the golden decade of Indo-Nepal relations,” Modi said.
NSA Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and Nepal’s Ambassador to India Nilambar Acharya, Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Supplies Lekhraja Bhatta and Charge d’Affaires, Embassy of India in Nepal Dr Ajay Kumar witnessed the event.