Nepal signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India at Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation on 29h July to combat illegal trade in animal parts, also a bid to conservation initiatives to boost wildlife in the two neighbouring states.

"After the MoU with China in June, we were working hard to enter into a similar agreement with India and the time has finally come for that," forest minister Deepak Bohara was quoted as saying by the myrepublica online, the news website of Republica daily.

The MoU was signed by Satya Prakash Yadav, Deputy Inspector General of National Tiger Conservation Authority, Ministry of environment and forests of India, and Nepal’s director general of national parks and wildlife conservation, Gopal Prasad Upadhyay, the report said.

Nepal has stepped up steps to combat wildlife conservation and illegal trade in animal parts, which are treasured for commercial and medicinal purpose in China.

There are 13 tiger range countries in the world including Nepal, India, China and Myanmar. The tiger range countries have been working together to conserve the endangered wild animal tiger, to double the number or around 7,000 by next Year for Tiger 2022.

In a bid to intensify the conservation efforts, Nepal government has recently announced a new Banke National Park near Bardia National Park in the western Nepal.

WWF Nepal has provided the government more than $50,000 to carry out the tiger census. It means Nepal is home to nearly 5% of tiger in the wild worldwide which is estimated to be 3,200.