Foreign Minister says India visit was fruitful, highlights strengthened bilateral cooperation
Kathmandu: Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal has said that fruitful discussions were held on various dimensions of bilateral relations during his recent visit to neighboring India.
Informing the National Assembly today about his official visit to India from June 10 to 12, he stated that substantive discussions were held on strengthening people-to-people relations, along with trade and economic cooperation, connectivity, energy partnership, water resource management, and sports, during the bilateral talks.
During the visit, both sides expressed commitment to further strengthen bilateral relations in a meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, he informed.
Minister Khanal mentioned that views were also exchanged on Nepal and India’s shared security interests, border management, and strategic partnership during the meeting.
He informed that during the visit, he highlighted Nepal’s foreign policy priorities at a program organized by the India Foundation and engaged in discussions on common concerns related to energy, trade, and borders.
He also stated that views were exchanged on various regional and international issues during the visit.
During the trip, a memorandum of understanding was exchanged between the Digital Public Infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence Center of Kathmandu University School of Engineering and the Digital India Language Division for cross-border payment-to-payment services, the handover of post-earthquake reconstruction projects in Nepal with India’s development assistance, and the co-development of the national digital infrastructure under the ‘Voice First’ language translation platform, as per the agreement with NCHL.
Similarly, Foreign Minister Khanal also mentioned that discussions were held with India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
“I feel that the discussions and high-level meetings held in New Delhi have taken diplomatic and economic cooperation between Nepal and India to a new height and have laid a strong foundation for further result-oriented cooperation in areas of mutual interest in the coming days,” Minister Khanal said.
He said this visit provided an opportunity to strongly present Nepal’s balanced, independent, and multi-faceted foreign policy.
He further stated that a solid foundation has been laid for expanding trade and investment, strengthening energy cooperation, promoting tourism, and enhancing connectivity and people-to-people relations.
“Views were also exchanged on contemporary international issues such as regional stability, supply chain security, and energy partnership,” Minister Khanal added.