Bilateral railway agreements and trans-border movement of motor vehicles will be on the agenda next week at the third round of talks between Nepali and Indian officials starting 8 February in Kathmandu. It will be led by Chhabi Raj Pant, director general at the Department of Transport Management (DTM) and Purushottam Ojha, joint secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies respectively.

A possible bone of contention could be Nepal's "One Time Lock System" ensuring direct entry of containers in the Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Sirsiya, Birgunj after inspections at the Kolkata port in India. The Nepali government is under pressure to operationalise the Birgunj dry port, completed two years ago, by September this year when the extended deadline of the ICD project matures.