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1 TRANSLATION OF THE PROCEEDINGS AND ... - APFA News

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other to reach an agreement. If the differences should still persist, the matter<br />

will be put up to the Ministerial Joint Committee.<br />

The Foreign Minister said that, essentially Bhutan and Nepal are not only close<br />

neighbours and small nations located in the Himalayas but also face similar<br />

opportunities, vulnerabilities and constraints besides sharing similar cultures<br />

and traditions. If the two countries are able to resolve the issue of the people in<br />

the camps and then strengthen and expand friendship and cooperation in the<br />

areas of trade, commerce and culture, it will be for the benefit and in the interest<br />

of both the countries in the long run. After eight years, the two countries have<br />

been able to begin the joint verification exercise. The Ministry of Foreign<br />

Affairs has been shouldering the responsibility of drafting policies and<br />

interacting with the Nepalese counterparts on this issue. The responsibility of<br />

actually implementing the verification process, however, rests with the Home<br />

Ministry. In accordance with the terms of the agreement reached during the 10 th<br />

MJC, the Bhutanese team led by Dasho Sonam Tenzin from the Home Ministry<br />

along with five people left Bhutan and reached Jhapa on 11 th March 2001. After<br />

discussions between the two countries, Khudunabari camp in Jhapa was selected<br />

as the first camp for verification. At Khudunabari camp, there are 1,963 families<br />

that make up a total population of about 12,446 to 17,851.<br />

The Joint Verification Team with 10 members each from both sides, after<br />

finalizing the agreed terms, residential and office accommodation, began the<br />

actual verification process on 26 th March 2001. In the course of the verification,<br />

the team leader of the Nepalese side was terminated from service by their<br />

government. Although this created unanticipated problems, the verification<br />

process is progressing well.<br />

Till 5 th July 2001, within a period of 62 working days, the JVT interviewed 660<br />

families constituting 4,128 individuals, who have been categorized into 1,101<br />

individual/family units. This works out to 65 individuals a day. The pace of the<br />

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