KATHMANDU (TIP): Nepal will sign the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement in Thimphu on Monday to facilitate transportation of both people and goods among the four Saarc member countries. Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Management Bimalendra Nidhi is leaving for the Bhutanese capital tomorrow to sign the agreement on behalf of the Nepal government.

“With endorsement from the cabinet, I am visiting Thimphu to sign the motor vehicles agreement, which is part of the Saarc Motor Vehicles Agreement,” Nidhi told PTI. “Once the BBIN is signed, it would pave way for signing the Saarc Motor Vehicle Agreement,” he pointed out. The BBIN agreement is expected to help revive the stalled South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation motor vehicles agreement, which was approved during the Saarc Summit here in November, 2014.

“This is a sub-regional motor vehicle agreement which is not parallel to the Saarc motor vehicle agreement,” he said. The BBIN will facilitate transportation of both people and goods among the four Saarc member countries.

The signing of the BBIN would promote safe, economical, efficient and environmentally sound road transport in the region and would further help each country in creating an institutional mechanism for regional integration. Nidhi said Nepal is still negotiating for the Saarc motor vehicles agreement as early as possible but a meeting could not be convened due to the April 25 quake.