Kathmandu: In a bid to facilitate smooth movement of people across borders, India and Nepal today (Feb 23, 2004) signed an agreement on free flow of passenger vehicles through five border points connecting major cities.

The agreement was signed by Indian Ambassador to Nepal Shyam Saran and Nepalese Labour Secretary Narayan Prasad Silwal in the presence of visiting Foreign Secretary Shashank and his Nepalese counterpart Madhu Raman Acharya.

The agreement will be operationalised after signing of the protocol for procedures and modalities.

It envisages movement of regular passenger bus service through five border points on 14 different routes connecting important cities of Nepal to New Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Kolkata, Darjeeling and Varanasi among others.

Before signing the agreement, Shashank and Acharya held talks on the entire gamut of Indo-Nepal relations including trade, transport, security, terrorism, extradition treaty and border management.

Describing the talks as "very constructive" and "positive" where the whole range of bilateral relations including security issues were discussed, Shashank told reporters that matters relating to strengthening co-operation in the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation) region and BIMSTEC were also discussed.