New Delhi: Foreign secretary Vikram Misri will visit Nepal next week to meet his counterpart Amrit Bahadur Rai to review bilateral relations and discuss preparations for a planned trip to India next month by Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
Misri will visit Nepal during August 17–18 at the invitation of Nepalese foreign secretary Rai, the external affairs ministry said on Saturday. The visit continues the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries and will be an opportunity to further advance bilateral ties, it said in a statement.
People familiar with the matter said, on condition of anonymity, that Misri’s meetings in Kathmandu will also focus on preparations for Oli’s visit to New Delhi. Oli is expected to visit India around September 16, though no official announcement has been made about the trip.
“India and Nepal share strong and friendly ties which have seen concrete progress in recent years in diverse areas of cooperation. India attaches high priority to its relations with Nepal under its Neighbourhood First policy,” the external affairs ministry said.
Also Read: India, Nepal hold home secy-level talks after 9 yrs, review security cooperation
{{/usCountry}}Also Read: India, Nepal hold home secy-level talks after 9 yrs, review security cooperation
{{/usCountry}}India has traditionally enjoyed close ties with Nepal. However, Oli, who has sought to move his country closer to China, travelled to Beijing last December soon after beginning his fourth stint as Prime Minister—moving away from the convention of Nepal’s PMs making India the destination for their first foreign trip.
Oli is expected to visit China again later this month to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin as a special guest, though Nepal is not a member of the grouping.