Nepal-B'desh sign 4 pacts to promote ties

Kathmandu: Nepal and Bangladesh have signed four agreements to enhance their ties in areas such as tourism, connectivity and cultural exchange, officials here said on Wednesday.

They were signed on Tuesday on the last day of President Bidya Devi Bhandari's two-day state visit to Bangladesh to attend the celebrations marking the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the 50th independence of the country. The pacts include memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on tourism cooperation, sanitary and phytosanitary cooperation, cultural exchange programme and a letter of exchange to designate Rohanpur-Singabad railway route as an additional transit route, according to foreign ministry officials. They were signed in Dhaka in the presence of President Bhandari and her Bangladeshi counterpart Mohammad Abdul Hamid. During the occasion, Bhandari delivered a statement highlighting the state of bilateral relations and shed light on the invaluable contributions of Mujibur Rahman for the independence of Bangladesh and his vision of Sonar Bangla.

A programme to mark the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation and the 50th independence of Bangladesh was followed by a cultural performance by both Nepali and Bangladeshi artistes at the National Parade Ground in

Dhaka.