India-Nepal border guarding forces' meet from Tuesday to focus on 'streamlining mechanism'

By Rajnish Singh
New Delhi [India], October 4 : The border guarding forces of India and Nepal will place emphasis on "addressing and streamlining mechanism on how to jointly curb trans-border crimes and timely sharing information", said central government sources.
The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) from the Indian side and Nepal's Armed Police Force (APF) in three-day DG-level talks beginning from Tuesday will also discuss "border-related issues and to enable better coordination between both the border guarding forces".
The 5th Annual coordination meeting between Director General SSB and Inspector General APF, Nepal will be held from October 5 to October 7 here in the national capital. The SSB delegation will be led by Director General Kumar Rajesh Chandra. Chandra will hold talks with the Nepal APF delegation headed by Inspector General Shailendra Khanal.
"The DG level talks are being held to discuss border-related issues and to enable better coordination between both Border Guarding Forces. The meeting will focus on addressing and streamlining mechanism on how to jointly curb trans-border crimes and timely sharing of information by both the border guarding forces," an official communique mentioning the agenda of the meeting stated.
DG SSB and IG APF have been holding coordination meetings every year since 2012 alternatively in India and Nepal.
A nine-member Nepal APF delegation, which arrived in Delhi earlier on Monday, will hold talks with a 12-member Indian delegation led by SSB Director-General.
During the meeting, several important matters like the security scenario along the border, coordination meetings at field level, sharing of information about crimes and criminals, training of armed police personnel and mutual visits by officers of two countries will also be discussed, the sources said.
Earlier, the meeting was scheduled from October 4 to 6 but it was postponed for a day due to some issues.
A Home Ministry official said that the India-Nepal relationship derives strength from shared history, trade, economic partnership, cultural ties and close and intense people-to-people contact.
The official said that there is an "excellent cooperation" between security forces of two countries, and added that the annual DG-level talks have been organised since a few years to improve coordination between the border guarding forces of the two countries through joint patrolling, common training of armed forces officers, regular border meetings and other means.