India to provide bullet proof cars to Nepal for SAARC summit

KATHMANDU: India will provide six sophisticated armoured vehicles to ferry the world leaders during the 18th SAARC summit to be held here later this month.

India had offered to provide these bullet proof vehicles to Nepal free of charge, Foreign ministry sources said.

The vehicles will be utilised to ferry heads of the government or heads of the state during the summit being held from November 26-27, the sources said.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala already has a bullet proof car while Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bring one such car with him during his visit.

Six other heads of government or heads of state will use the bullet proof cars to be brought from India.

Besides this, the government of Nepal is planning to hire 32 high-end Mercedes Benz Sedans from private companies in India for the Summit, the sources said.

These vehicles will be used to ferry the dignitaries during the regional meeting.

The arrangements were made while joint secretary at the Foreign Ministry Khaganath Adhiari was in New Delhi last week.

The six bullet proof cars will be returned to India on after the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit.

Nepal will chair the summit of the regional grouping, which has Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as its members.