New Delhi, Dec 7 (IANS) India and Nepal are strengthening their economic partnership with increasing cooperation in the field of trade, tourism, infrastructural connectivity, and energy, according to Nepalese media reports.

Tourism is an important industry, with both nations possessing an excessively rich cultural heritage and scenic landscapes, acting as travel destinations for each other as well as the world. Thus, governments across borders are focusing on developing tourism on a significant scale, including in non-traditional areas, according to an article in Nepal Aaja digital news portal.

In November 2025, the two nations amended the Treaty of Transit, a bilateral initiative to enhance cross-border connectivity and trade, to facilitate the movement of rail-based freight between Jogbani in India and Biratnagar in Nepal, including bulk cargo. Moreover, this liberalisation will extend to key transit corridors, which would not just help in strengthening multimodal trade connectivity between the two countries, but also Nepal’s trade with third countries. Such measures are a way to further consolidate economic and commercial linkages between the two countries, the article pointed out.

The two nations are writing new chapters of bilateral energy cooperation aimed at enhancing regional connectivity and sustainable power development. Progressing on their commitment to promote clean energy, New Delhi and Kathmandu reached a historic milestone with the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL)’s export of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Nepal. The transition was enabled with the development of cryogenic storage and regasification facilities at Simara, Nepal. This initiative highlights the synergies in achieving sustainability and efficiency with the development of a viable industrial energy alternative, the article states.

It also highlights that the much-celebrated Arun-3 Hydroelectric Project, being developed by SJVN Limited, an Indian public sector enterprise, is tapping into Nepal’s huge water wealth and hydropower potential, meeting energy-hungry India’s increasing needs. The 900 MW run-of-the-river hydropower project stands as a symbol of robust India-Nepal partnership in the hydropower sector, with multi-pronged benefits like providing a share of free electricity to Nepal, meeting India’s incremental energy needs, as well as generating economic opportunities locally. Nepal is expected to receive energy royalty, along with rural electrification and rural infrastructural development. Thus, in their economic symbiosis, India provides a “ready and dynamic market to Nepal’s immense hydropower generating resources”.

On the financial development front, progressive measures have been taken with the establishment of interoperability of UPI (Unified Payments Interface) and FonePay QR in Nepal. Even during Covid-19, when borders around the world remained closed, India-Nepal trade routes continued to be open and robust, an example of resilient economic ties.

The mutually beneficial bilateral economic relations are transcending into a shared economic future for the two countries, which have age-old civilisation ties and a shared sense of history, the article added.

–IANS

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