Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai said the deal is likely to be signed Friday. [break]
The deal was supposed to be signed much earlier but it was delayed as Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala declined to approve the design accusing officials of her ministry of keeping her in dark while selecting the French security printer.
According to a source at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire signed on the decision approving the design on Friday. But the office could not send the decision to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) as it could not print a color copy of the design within the office hour.
“We will send the decision and a color copy of the design to the ministry on Friday,” said the source.
Though the design was approved Friday, it has been included in the cabinet decision dated August 13, the day when the cabinet authorized the prime minister to end the design row.
An MoFA official said the agreement to be signed with the French security printer is almost final.
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