In a first high-level visit from India after Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal assumed office on December 25, 2022, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra will travel to the Himalayan neighbour on Monday. The visit is expected to further strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries.
Both New Delhi and Kathmandu jointly announced the two day visit of the foreign secretary from Feb 13, 2023. The visit is on the invitation of his Nepalese counterpart Bharat Raj Paudyal.
Agenda during the visit
Both foreign secretary Kwatra and Paudyal will review the status of India-funded projects in Nepal and also on the agenda are discussions related to various matters of bilateral cooperation including connectivity, power trade, health, culture and agriculture.
During his visit the Indian foreign secretary will also call on President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, PM Dahal, and also former Prime Ministers Sher Bahadur Deuba and KP Sharma Oli.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) this is foreign secretary’s first stand alone visit since he assumed office in May 2022. The visit is in keeping with the tradition of high-level exchanges between the two countries and priority attached to Nepal under India’s Neighbourhood First’ policy.
The two countries share historical and civilization linkages with Nepal and over the years the bilateral relations have strengthened and several important cross border connectivity and infrastructure projects have been completed with assistance from India.
Foreign secretary Kwatra has served as Indian ambassador to Nepal from May 2020 until April 2022 and is considered an old Nepal hand in India’s South Block.
The two sides will also review the progress on various announcements and initiatives which have been announced and undertaken during the high level visits in 2022 — Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba visited each other’s countries.
Foreign secretary Kwatra will also hand over an invitation on behalf of Prime Minister Modi to visit India at a convenient date.
Last month, according to reports Prime Minister Dahal had told a group of journalists in his country that his first overseas visit would be India and the two sides are working towards it. The date of the visit is likely to be announced after FS Kwatra’s visit to Nepal.