KATHMANDU, Feb 12 (PTI): Indian foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra’s two-day official visit to Nepal beginning on Monday is continuation of the regular exchange between the two friendly neighbours, Nepal’s foreign ministry said on Sunday.
Kwatra is visiting Nepal at the invitation of his Nepalese counterpart Bharat Raj Paudyal. His visit to Nepal is aimed at advancing overall cooperation between the two countries.
During the visit, the foreign secretary of India will pay courtesy calls on Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal “Prachanda” and foreign minister Paudyal on Monday, according to foreign ministry sources here.
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It is expected that Kwatra will also discuss with his Nepalese interlocutors the possibility of a visit to India by Nepal’s Prime Minister Prachanda. Prachanda has said that he will travel to India on his first foreign visit.
Kwatra will also hold a bilateral meeting with Paudyal at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kathmandu.
“The Foreign Secretaries of Nepal and India will discuss various matters of bilateral cooperation such as connectivity, power trade, agriculture, health and culture among others,” according to a statement issued by the ministry here.
“The visit is in continuation of the regular exchange of visits between the two friendly neighbours,” it said.
This will be the first high-level visit from India after Prime Minister Prachanda assumed office for the third time in December.
Besides the official meetings, foreign secretary Kwatra is also expected to meet Nepal’s top political leaders, including Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-UML chairman KP Sharma Oli.
Kwatra will leave Kathmandu on February 14, wrapping up his two-day official visit, the statement said.
Kwatra served as India’s envoy to Nepal before he assumed charge as the foreign secretary on May 1 last year.
“The visit is in keeping with the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries and the priority India attaches to its relations with Nepal under its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy,” the Ministry of External Affairs has said.
India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy is an integral component of Indian foreign policy. The policy seeks to build cordial and synergetic relations with India’s South Asian neighbours in various areas such as economy, science and technology, research and education, among others.
It was on December 30 that Indian ambassador Naveen Srivastava, while handing over a congratulatory message from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Prachanda, had extended him an invitation to visit India, the Kathmandu Post newspaper reported, citing sources.
But whether Prachanda will make New Delhi his first port of call is still uncertain as he could first visit Qatar to participate in the fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries scheduled on March 5-9, the report said.
Both the prime minister and the foreign minister are scheduled to participate in the UN conference where Nepal is set to be the chair of the least-developed nations.
“The prime minister will attend the conference for two days, but I will be there for its entire length,” the report quoted foreign minister Paudyal as saying.
The date of the prime minister’s New Delhi visit will be decided after Kwatra’s visit, the report said, quoting officials.
Ahead of Prachanda’s India visit, Kathmandu and New Delhi are gearing up to conclude some meetings of bilateral mechanisms at different levels, it said.
After two back-to-back visits from the United States in a short span of time, it now appears to be New Delhi’s turn to engage with the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government, it added.
Nepal, sandwiched between India and China, has seen a number of high-profile visits by top American officials in recent weeks, amidst Beijing’s growing forays in the Himalayan nation.
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power concluded her Nepal visit on Thursday.
Ahead of Power’s visit, Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland visited Kathmandu and urged party leaders to be cautious while dealing with neighbours, particularly on economic partnerships.
Nepal is important for India in the context of its overall strategic interests in the region, and the leaders of the two countries have often noted the age-old “Roti Beti” relationship.
The country shares a border of more than 1,850 km with five Indian states – Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Land-locked Nepal relies heavily on India for the transportation of goods and services.
