New Delhi, Aug. 20: At the invitation of the Indian External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nepal, Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba is on an official visit to India from 18-22 August 2024.

 The Foreign Ministers held bilateral talks on 19 August, covering the full range of the India-Nepal bilateral partnership. The Foreign Ministers reviewed the progress made in various bilateral initiatives and developmental projects and also discussed opportunities for further collaboration in the existing and new areas of mutually beneficial cooperation.

India and Nepal are close and friendly neighbours with deep historical, civilizational, cultural, and people to people linkages. There has been sustained momentum in the recent years in the implementation of India assisted projects in Nepal, which is especially manifested in the fields of connectivity – physical, digital as well as people to people, including in the infrastructure and other projects related to cross-border railways, roads and bridges, Integrated Check Posts, petroleum pipelines, and digital financial connectivity.

The two sides also noted the progress made in the mutually beneficial partnership in the field of power sector cooperation, where Nepal can now export electricity close to 1000 MW, creating additional source of revenue for Nepal and clean energy for India. In this connection, both Foreign Ministers noted the unprecedented opportunities in the power sector cooperation that would be available on implementation of the Long Term Power Trade Agreement.

Noting that sports is emerging as another area of cooperation between India and Nepal, the recent facilitation of providing training for the Nepali cricket team at the National Cricket Academy, Bengaluru was also welcomed.

During her visit, Foreign Minister of Nepal also called on the Indian Prime Minister. Ways for further strengthening India-Nepal cooperation in a variety of mutually beneficial areas were discussed in the meeting.

Nepal is a priority partner of India under its Neighbourhood First policy. The Foreign Minister’s visit is in keeping with the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries. The visit also provided an opportunity to discuss and identify newer areas of cooperation to further advance our bilateral ties.