New Delhi
12 June 2006
India and China will seek to muster "political will" for reopening of
trade route via Nathula in Sikkim when their officials meet in Lhasa this week to "tie up
loose ends" like commodities to be traded and to "sort out" procedural issues like
customs and immigration points.
With only a few weeks to go before expiry of the June-end deadline agreed upon by both
sides, New Delhi maintains that the date for reopening what was once the ancient Silk
Route will depend on the "assessment" by this delegation about the "equitable"
preparations made by the Chinese.
An Indian delegation comprising officials from the ministries of commerce, home and
external affairs and Sikkim Government will travel to Lhasa via Kathmandu for the June
16-21 talks. It will return via Nathula. A team of Chinese officials had similarly visited
India last year to review the progress.
Desirous of opening another pass on the India-China border and setting up an additional
point on each side for border trade, the two sides have designated Sherathang in Sikkim
and Renqinggang in Tibet Autonomous Region as the venue for border trade market and
use Nathula for movement of people and goods.
Sources said the meeting between officials this week would thrash out outstanding
issues like number of commodities approved for trading, duration and days on which
trading will be allowed, quarantine of commodities, location of border trade mart and
other infrastructure.
Trade via Nathula was to begin in 2005 but has been delayed because of logistical
issues like location of "Trade Mart" and bank. The decision to open the Nathula Pass,
which the Dalai Lama used to flee to India, was taken in 2003 during former prime
minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to Beijing.
Unlike the other border trade agreements signed by India with neighbouring countries
including Myanmar and Bangladesh, the agreement for reopening of trade route via
Nathula is likely to have a much larger scope both in terms of the coverage of
geographical regions and nature of goods and services.
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