Nepal Foreign Affairs (KATHMANDU, 9 March 2019) – An agreement has been reached between Nepal and France to establish a security printing and operate and manage a satellite.
The agreement was reached during the six-day visit of Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Baskota, that ended on March 8.
The French government would provide concessional financial aid and technical support to Nepal in order to enforce its plan to operate and manage the satellite in the orbital slot provided by the International Tele-communications Union, according to Minister Baskota.
He was talking to reporters after returning from attending the Mobile Congress 2019 held in Barcelona of Spain from February 25 to 27, and an official visit to France from March 3 to 8 at the invitation of French Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Jean Baptise Lemonye.
During the visit to France, a Letter of Intent was signed at the ministerial level to establish a security printing press and operate the satellite. The agreement to establish the security printing was reached between Nepal’s security printing centre and the INGROUPE, a company owned by the French government.
Likewise, Nepal Telecommunications Authority and Thales Alenia Space of France signed the agreement on operation of the satellite. The work of the security printing shall be completed within three years and that of the satellite within thirty months, said Minister Baskota.
Also during the bilateral talks held with State Minister Lemonye, matters relating to further consolidating Nepal-France relations through exchange of high-levels visits to mark the 70 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries were discussed.
Minister Baskota also urged the State Minister to encourage French investors to attend the investment summit going to be held in Kathmandu from 29 to 30 March.