November 24: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale has reportedly appealed to the high-ranking visiting delegates of the European Union (EU) to consider removing Nepal from the union's blacklist.    
At a courtesy meeting held at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation on Tuesday, Minister Ale requested Paola Pampaloni, deputy managing director of the European Union's External Affairs for Asia and the Pacific, to consider removing the ban imposed on airline companies of Nepal from flying in the skies of the European Union-member nations, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported.    
Pampaloni, who arrived in Nepal last Saturday leading a three-member delegation to participate in the meeting of Nepal-EU Joint Commission slated for today (November 24), reportedly responded to Minister Ale that EU was positive about removing Nepal from its blacklist.

The EU has banned airline companies of Nepal from flying in its airspace since December 5, 2013 citing poor aviation standards of Nepal. 

"A positive talk has begun to remove Nepal from EU's blacklist. Nepal will certainly be removed from it," RSS quoted Pampaloni as saying.  
During the meeting, the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues concerning bilateral cooperation between Nepal and the EU.    

The European Union has been supporting Nepal in trade and investment, commerce, energy, science and technology, agriculture, human resource development, environment conservation, post-earthquake reconstruction, rural development, nutrition, education, good governance, among others.