Tourism minister Ale urges EU to remove Nepal from blacklist

Kathmandu: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale in a meeting with the European Union (EU )Ambassador to Nepal has called upon the EU to remove Nepali airlines from the black list of European airspace.

Speaking during the protocol meetings with EU Ambassador Nona Deprez in Kathmandu on Monday, Minister Ale reiterated Nepal’s stance in removing the name of Nepal from the black list of European airspace prohibition order list as soon as possible.

“The Government of Nepal is fully committed to further improving Nepal’s aviation security sector and flight safety.” Minister Ale said.

In response to it, Ambassador Deprez assured Minister Ale that a request would be made to call an EU technical team as soon as possible to observe the flight safety situation in Nepal and make further decisions regarding the issue raised in the meeting.

It may be recalled that the EU had black-listed Nepali Airservices in the European airspace from December 5, 2013, citing various reasons pertinent to flight safety.