New Delhi: Union Cabinet on Thursday approved signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Nepal for construction of a bridge over Mahakali river at Dharchula in Uttarakhand besides approving an MoU with Turkmenistan and an agreement with Spain.
Briefing the media on the Cabinet decisions, I&B Minister Anurag Thakur said the MoU between India and Nepal will be signed in the near future and the bridge will be completed within three years.
The construction of the bridge will help people living in Dharchula in Uttarakhand and in the territory of Nepal, he said.
Thakur said as close neighbours, India and Nepal share unique ties of friendship and cooperation characterized by an open border and deep-rooted people-to-people contacts of kinship and culture.
The diplomatic relations between the two countries will further improve with the signing of the MoU, an official statement said.
It noted that India and Nepal have been working together on different regional forums such as SAARC and BIMSTEC as well as the global fora.
The MoU between India and Turkmenistan on cooperation in the field of Disaster Management seeks to put in place a system, whereby both India and Turkmenistan will be benefited from the Disaster Management mechanisms of each other and it will help in strengthening the areas of preparedness, response and capacity building in the field of Disaster Management.
The Cabinet has also approved the signing of agreement between India and Spain on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters.
The agreement will help in making available, reliable, quick and cost-effective information and intelligence for the prevention and investigation of Customs offences and apprehending of Customs offenders.
The agreement would provide a legal framework for sharing of information between the Customs authorities of the two countries and help in the proper administering of Customs laws and detection and investigation of Customs offences and the facilitation of legitimate trade.
Also read: PM's security breach discussed in Cabinet meet; Thakur says MHA to take tough decisions
