Kathmandu — Officials from the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) grouping on Saturday agreed to speedily finalise passenger and cargo protocols for the implementation of the BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA).

A meeting of the officials held in New Delhi discussed the passenger and cargo protocols which will give effect to the agreement to regulate passenger, personal and cargo vehicular traffic between the four countries that was signed in June 2015, the external affairs ministry said in a statement.

This was the first meeting of the group of officials since January 2018, when the two protocols were last discussed, The Hindustan Times writes.

“The meeting was held in a friendly and cordial atmosphere, with the delegations agreeing upon the need to expeditiously finalise the passenger and cargo protocols for implementation of the BBIN MVA. The meeting agreed to endeavour to revert by May 2020 on the process of internal consultations by respective countries based on the discussions of the meeting,” the statement said.

The delegations also discussed a draft enabling memorandum of understanding (MoU) to be signed by Bangladesh, India and Nepal for implementing the MVA by the three countries. The delegations of the three countries agreed to consider expediting the finalisation of this MoU.

Bhutan consented to the entry into force of the MVA among the three other countries without any obligation to it, pending the completion of internal procedures for ratifying the MVA.

The Bhutanese delegation participated in the meeting in an observer capacity, as decided by the country’s government.