The ninth meeting of the Joint Technical Coordination Mechanism (JTCC) of Nepal Rastra Bank and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was held in Kathmandu today. Inaugurating the meeting, Governor Bishwanath Poudel said that the mechanism is effective in facilitating result-oriented dialogue on cross-border concerns in the monetary and financial sectors and finding technical solutions to them.

He said that the 'JTCC' has been established as an important platform in terms of exchange of best practices in monetary policy, foreign exchange management, regulation, supervision and payment systems, enhancement of technical capacity and effectiveness of policy formulation. Governor Poudel also expressed confidence that the institutional relationship and exchange of technical cooperation between the two central banks will become more intensive through this mechanism in the coming days.

On the same occasion, Arnab Kumar Chaudhary, Executive Director of the Reserve Bank of India and 'JTCC' Coordinator, said that since the establishment of the mechanism, fruitful practices have been implemented in terms of currency management, facilitation of foreign trade and payment transactions and promotion of financial inclusion.

He claimed that mutual cooperation and coordination between the two central banks will be further strengthened in the coming days through 'JTCC'. In the meeting, Executive Director of the Governor's Office and 'JTCC' Coordinator on behalf of the Rastra Bank, Rajan Bikram Thapa pointed out the need to make the mechanism meaningful and result-oriented in the coming days to promote bilateral interests.

In the second session of the meeting, various agendas of bilateral concern were discussed between the ‘JTCC’ related officials of both central banks. On that occasion, facilitation of cross-border electronic payment transactions between Nepal and India and other contemporary issues were discussed. Similarly, the possibility of adopting good policy practices of the RBI in monetary policy, liquidity management, foreign exchange management and other issues was also discussed.

On that occasion, the status of implementation of the agenda discussed in the eighth meeting of the ‘JTCC’ was reviewed. On behalf of the Rastra Bank, Executive Directors Revati Prasad Nepal, Bishrut Thapa, Guru Prasad Poudel, Kiran Pandit, Dr. Ram Sharan Kharel, Dr. Dilliram Pokhrel, Nischal Adhikari and others participated in the meeting. On behalf of the RBI, Executive Director Chaudhary, General Managers Latha Radhakrishnan and Saswat Kumar Mahapatra and Manager Aparna Vakil participated along with Executive Director.