Kathmandu-Dhaka direct bus service on cards

Nepal and Bangladesh have agreed to start passenger bus service between Kathmandu and Dhaka.
Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Bimalendra Nidhi held discussion with minister for Road Transport and Bridges of Bangladesh Obaidul Quader in Kathmandu yesterday regarding passenger bus service between the two cities in the South Asian countries. Quader is in Kathmandu for his two-day visit since yesterday.

They also discussed about implementation of Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) within next January. Similarly, the two ministers also agreed to hold a car rally between four countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal – next October, targeting implementation of the Motor Vehicle Agreement. Likewise, a joint-secretary level meeting will be held in Dhaka in the second week of September to finalise the necessary protocol of the agreement.
The two ministers also decided to advance the SAARC Motor Vehicle Agreement. The agreement was supposed to be signed during SAARC Summit held in Kathmandu in November last year. But the signing was postponed at the last moment due to some reservation of Pakistan.
The SAARC Secretariat is organising a meeting of SAARC transport ministers in September in Kathmandu to finalise the SAARC Motor Vehicle Agreement. SAARC region is among the least connected blocs in the world. It has also been affecting intra-regional trade. The intra-regional trade in South Asia stands at around five per cent due largely to low connectivity.
Nidhi, on the occasion, thanked Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for sending relief goods to Nepal immediately after the devastating earthquake of April 25 and May 12.