Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of India about transit issues to Nepal.

I refer the noble Lord to the oral answer I gave to the Earl of Sandwich on 27 October 2015, Official Report, Column 1088.

Further to that response, the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), raised the situation in Nepal with the Indian Minister of External Affairs, General V K Singh on 5 November, and again with Indian Foreign Secretary Dr S Jaishankar on 12 November.

As Nepal’s largest bilateral donor and, in the year of the 200th anniversary of relations with Nepal, the UK is concerned about the current situation. Along with the rest of the international community we are very keen to see a final political settlement in Nepal and an end to the fuel supply problems, which are holding back Nepal’s recovery from April’s tragic earthquake and having a serious humanitarian impact. We remain in close contact with the Indian and Nepali governments.