Nepal, India announce cross-border digital payment system and other key agreements

Kathmandu-Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal and Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held bilateral talks in New Delhi on Saturday, discussing a wide range of issues including trade, economic cooperation, cross-border connectivity, energy partnership, water resource management and people-to-people ties.

According to a statement issued by the Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi, the two ministers reviewed the overall state of Nepal-India relations and reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening the long-standing partnership between the two countries.

During the meeting, Nepal and India announced the launch of a cross-border digital payment system for person-to-person transactions. The initiative has been implemented under a memorandum of understanding signed between Nepal Clearing House Limited and the National Payments Corporation of India. The system is expected to make digital transactions between the two countries easier, faster and more formalized.The two sides also announced the handover of 84 post-earthquake reconstruction projects built with the support of the Government of India, including 72 health sector projects and 12 cultural heritage projects.

In another significant development, Kathmandu University School of Engineering’s Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence and India’s Digital India Bhashini Division exchanged a memorandum of understanding to develop national digital infrastructure for a “voice-first” language translation platform. The collaboration is expected to support the development of AI-based translation systems in Nepali and other languages.During the talks, Jaishankar reiterated Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to working closely with Nepal for the mutual benefit and prosperity of both countries.Foreign Minister Khanal had arrived in New Delhi on Friday on an official visit at the invitation of his Indian counterpart and is scheduled to return to Kathmandu on Sunday.