Kathmandu, Aug. 15: Foreign Minister Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba has said the Nepal-India relations are historic, intimate and based on cooperation. It needs further strengthening, she stressed.

Foreign Minister Dr Rana said it while addressing a programme organized by the Indian Embassy in Nepal on the occasion of the 79th Independence Day of India. “India is a good friend of Nepal,” she said, expressing her view on various dimensions of the two-country relations subsisting for long.

The Minister appreciated India’s unprecedented journey of economic development and expressed belief that both Nepal and India would expand bilateral cooperation in the fronts of trade, technology, infrastructures and public aspiration. “Nepal-India relations are not only limited to geographical proximity but strengthened with ancient knowledge, common culture and people-to-people ties,” she reminded.

According to her, the two-country cooperation is imperative to tackle common problems like climate change impacts and sustainable development.

Earlier, Minister Dr Rana had congratulated the Indian government and its people through her Indian counterpart S Jaishankar on the occasion of the Independence Day today itself.