The home secretary-level meeting between Nepal and India has reached an agreement on the draft mutual legal assistance agreement between the two countries. After the governments of both countries decide to accept the draft, the agreement will be signed at the highest level.

In the absence of a mutual legal assistance agreement, both countries are unable to legally and formally cooperate in preventing criminal activities. After the agreement, international crime control will be helped. 

The home secretary level meeting held in Delhi on Wednesday finalized the draft prepared for the agreement. Participating in the meeting, Joint Secretary Ramchandra Tiwari, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs, said that an agreement has been reached on the draft at the technical level. The meeting, which agreed on the draft of the mutual legal assistance agreement, failed to agree on the extradition treaty . This is the conclusion of the meeting which will be discussed further in the coming days. 

In a statement released by the Press Information Bureau of India, the meeting welcomed the finalization of the draft of the Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement. In addition, it is mentioned in the statement that it was agreed in the meeting to work towards the completion of the extradition treaty as soon as possible. 

After 9 years, Nepal-India Home Secretary level meeting is taking place

The meeting was held at the home secretary level after 9 years. Home Spokesman Tiwari said that the meeting was focused on the main points in the direction of controlling cross-border crime. The meeting ended very amicably. The common security challenges and problems of both sides were discussed," he said,  The officials of both the countries have agreed to strictly control the trade of 'human trafficking', fake notes and drug dealing, 'to emphasize cooperation for cross-border crime control, to increase information exchange .' According to meeting sources, both countries will give priority to the issue of increasing intelligence sharing for various types of crime control.

Likewise, the meeting has agreed to increase surveillance in the border area, repair damaged border pillars and increase the meetings of the 'Border Coordination Committee' at the district level. Issues such as stopping the illegal movement of citizens of third countries, conducting joint security patrols at the border as necessary were discussed. Indian officials were particularly interested in illegal entry of third country citizens into India through Nepal. Recently, 8 Chinese citizens were arrested while entering India illegally. Likewise, Indian officials have been interested in every meeting of Pakistani citizens entering India through Nepal. Even now, the meeting source said that interest and concern has been expressed. "That interest was not only theirs, it was also ours," said the official, "Rohingya and Bhutanese refugees are examples of illegal entry into Nepal through India". That is why we have raised that issue with equal priority.'  Discussions have been held in the direction of removing encroachment on the border, increasing the leveling of infrastructure, speeding up the various projects of Integrated Check Chowkihar or Cross Border Connectivity which are being built with the help of India.