The control of terrorism, border area problems and issues of trade and bilateral interests would be the main focus of Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's visit to India from Wednesday. ''I am very much confident that India will be positive and supportive in resolving the issues,” ‘The Kathmandu Post’ quoted Deuba as saying. ''I will do my best to put forth our demands of Nepal and her people with India in a very positive manner. We are expecting a very positive response from India,'' he said. He is leaving for a six-day official visit to India on Wednesday at the invitation of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Deuba would also meet President K R Narayanan, vice-president Krishan Kant and other senior leaders. He is also scheduled to visit West Bengal and hold talks with the chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Deuba is expected to request West Bengal to control Maoist activities from the state as the insurgents are said to have received cooperation from some leftist organisations including the Peoples' War Group. Speaking at an all-party meeting in Kathmandu, Deuba said that he would seek India's support to control the activities of the Maoists during the visit.
Issues regarding the repatriation of Bhutanese refugees, inundation of Nepalese land due to the construction of Laxmanpur barrage in Banke district and Russia Khurdalautan embankment near Lumbini are to come up during the talks. Implementation of the recently signed trade treaty between the two countries and the Mahakali integrated treaty signed and endorsed by the Nepalese Parliament during the premiership of Deuba in 1996 will also be discussed during the talks.
''Nepal will also take up the issue of exploring new potentialities for water resources and hydro-power development and push for speedy implementation of past agreements,'' Deuba said.
Bureau Report