India, Nepal to sign pact on transit cargo movement

New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) India and Nepal will soon sign a Memorandum of Intent (MoI) to facilitate a pilot run for the movement of traffic-in-transit.

"An MoI on India-Nepal Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) pilot run will soon be signed by India and Nepal to facilitate movement of traffic-in-transit belonging to Nepal from the port of arrival in India to Nepal. The pilot aims to demonstrate the benefits, especially in terms of reduced costs, of the ECTS system," the Finance Ministry said in a statement here on Thursday.

Currently clearance is done through physical inspection which is time consuming as well as costly.

The MoI will include the use of ECTS to follow the cargo (containers and full-body trucks) as it moves from the port of arrival through India, to the Nepal border.

The ECTS will lead to reduced cost and save time as it speeds up cargo clearance at border crossings.

The ECTS uses technology such as satellite positioning systems, cellular communications, radio frequency (RF) identification, web-based software and others, to ensure the security of the cargo and avoid any interference in transit.

The pilot project will be supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Trade Facilitation Strategic Framework, and its success will serve as the basis for its use in other SASEC corridors as well as in inland movement of cargo.

ECTS pilots have already been done along the Kolkata-Jaigaon-Phuentsholing route between India and Bhutan, and for inland trans-shipment in India.

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