Nepali Ambassador to Bangladesh, Ghanashyam Bhandari, holding a meeting with the Foreign Affairs Advisor of the Interim Government of Bangladesh, Md Touhid Hossain.
Nepal has started making efforts to restore the political ties with Bangladesh that were severed following the dissolution of the Sheikh Hasina government.
Nepali Ambassador to Bangladesh Ghanashyam Bhandari is working to restore the disconnected bilateral ties with Bangladesh. He has started holding meetings with the advisors (ministers) of the new Bangladesh government.
Bhandari on September 3 held a meeting with the Foreign Affairs Advisor of the Interim Government of Bangladesh, Md Touhid Hossain. Similarly, he met with Power and Energy Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan and Home Affairs Advisor Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Sunday.
Nepal focused on exporting power
Ambassador Bhandari stressed exporting electricity in all these meetings.
“We have agreed to realize the energy cooperation between the two countries by exporting 40 megawatts of electricity via the transmission lines of India,” the Nepali Embassy has said following the meeting with the Foreign Affairs Advisor.
Similarly, Nepal and Bangladesh have agreed to expedite the energy cooperation during the meeting with the energy advisor.
According to sources at the Nepali Embassy, the new government of Banlgadesh is positive about importing 40 megawatts of electricity from Nepal.
“The new interim government is also positive about importing 40 megawatts of electricity from Nepal,” the Nepali Embassy said, “The agreement had been already reached between the two countries. It was delayed following the political change in the country.”
Nepal stressed the need to expedite the power export agreement during the meetings with all the three advisors.
“We have insisted that the power export agreement be expedited without delay,” said the Embassy, “The Bangladeshi side has assured us that they will keep us posted after working on it. The political turmoil has not fully subsided. The agreement, perhaps, will be reached once the unrest turns into normalcy.”
Nepali Ambassador to Bangladesh, Ghanashyam Bhandari, posing for a group photo with Power and Energy Adviser of the Interim Government of Bangladesh, Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan
The final preparations were being made to reach the power export agreement with the Hasina-led government. The agreement was scheduled to be inked in Pokhara on July 28 in the presence of the energy ministers of Nepal, Indian and Bangladesh.
However, the agreement remained on hold after the students took to the streets in Bangladesh against the quota system in the government jobs.
Preparations were being made to export 40 megawatts of electricity from June 15 to November 15 each year to Bangladesh, according to the agreement. It would generate an income of Rs 1.23 billion for Nepal in the period of five months every year. According to the agreement, Nepal would sell Bangladesh the electricity at the rate of 6.4 US cents per unit.
Nepal has started selling 941 megawatts of electricity to India during the summer season.
