New Delhi, June 10 (IANS): To promote safe, economical and environmentally sound road transport between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN), the government on Wednesday approved the signing of a motor vehicles agreement with these countries.

The approval was given at a union cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The agreement is aimed at regulation of passenger, personal and cargo vehicular traffic amongst the four nations. It would be signed on June 15 at the BBIN transport minister's meeting in Thimpu, Bhutan.

The signing of the BBIN agreement will promote safe, economical efficient and environmentally sound road transport in the sub-region and will further help each country in creating an institutional mechanism for regional integration, an official release said here.

BBIN countries will benefit by mutual cross-border movement of passenger and goods for overall economic development of the region. The people of the four countries will benefit through seamless movement of goods and passenger across borders.

Each party will bear its own costs arising from implementation of this agreement.

A meeting of transport secretaries of the BBIN countries was organised by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway in February to discuss and finalise the text of the draft BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement, which is similar to the SAARC Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) draft with minor changes.

The cabinet earlier approved a proposal to sign the SAARC motor vehicles agreement during the SAARC summit in Kathmandu in November last year.

It could not be signed due to reservations of Pakistan.