Nepal working to deepen ties with India, says PM KP Oli

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KATHMANDU: Days ahead of the crucial bilateral talks between India-Nepal Foreign Ministers that is likely to focus on seeking a long-term solution of the boundary dispute, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli stated that the country is working to deepen ties with its neighbourhood India. "We are working to deepen ties with India based on sovereign equality. In fact, we want to deepen the relationship with India in true sense and we should not hesitate to raise our issues of genuine concerns with India," said PM Oli.

The Prime Minister stated that issue related to Nepal`s new map will be on the agenda for discussion during Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali's visit to India this month. "Our foreign minister will visit India on January 14 during which his discussion will be centred on the issue of the map that we have published with the inclusion of the three territories," he added.

The Prime Minister also said that recent high-level visits from India and China were goodwill ones. "They came here to convey their good wishes. There is nothing to worry much about that," he was quoted as saying by My Republica newspaper.

Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali is scheduled to visit New Delhi on January 14 at the invitation of his counterpart S Jaishankar to participate in the sixth Nepal-India Joint Commission meeting at the Foreign Minister level.

The bilateral exchanges that had stalled due to the bitter boundary dispute were reset in the later part of 2020 with a series of high-level visits, as New Delhi emphasised that it sees itself as the Himalayan nation's "foremost friend" and development partner.

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla's maiden visit to Nepal in November was largely aimed at resetting bilateral ties. Shringla met Prime Minister Oli and other top political brass and emphasised that India and Nepal are on the same page and share the same vision.

Shringla's trip followed earlier ones by Indian Army chief Gen. MM Naravane, and a whirlwind tour by Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief Samant Kumar Goel to Kathmandu in a bid to mend ties. Senior BJP leader and the party's head of the foreign affairs department Vijay Chauthaiwale also visited Nepal in early December.