India and Nepal signed a MoU to conserve biodiversity and strengthen ecological security in a bid to curb illegal trade in animal parts in the trans-boundary region. The MoU was signed by Nepal's Director General, Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Mr. Gopal Prasad Upadhyay on behalf of the Government of Nepal and Mr. S.P Yadav, Deputy Inspector General, National Tiger Conservation Authority, Ministry of Environment and Forests on behalf of the Government of India. Talking to newsmen, Nepal's Forest Minister said the signing of the memorandum was a step forward in strengthening bilateral co-operation and trans-boundary conservation. AIR Correspondent reports that the MoU was signed as Nepal was celebrating the National Tiger Day on Thursday. The MoU signed on Thursday was an outcome of the 4th Nepal-India Consultative Meeting on Trans-boundary Biodiversity Conservation. Nepal had already signed a similar MoU with the China in June this for conserving biodiversity especially in curbing illegal trade in endangered species including Tiger. The MoU signed with India assumes special significance as most of the national parks in Nepal are located in Terai region and closely linked with wildlife reserves in India and therefore help in easy coordination between Indian and Nepali officials on the ground in checking illegal trade in animal parts and other conservation efforts. According to an official finding, Tiger population in Nepal is put at 155 in the protected areas in the country, recording an encouraging increase in the number of tiger population, as last tiger census shows only 121 tigers in major Tiger habitats of the Nepal.