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India, Nepal work towards addressing mistrust issues, fixing strained ties
NEW DELHI: Almost six years after a pact was signed for the same, India is moving to build Nepal Bharat Maitri Polytechnic at Hetauda in Nepal, as the two countries
NEW DELHI: Almost six years after a pact was signed for the same, India is moving to build Nepal Bharat Maitri Polytechnic at Hetauda in Nepal, as the two countries work on ways to address the mistrust and spruce up their strained ties.
The two sides are also working on a plan for a presidential visit to each other’s country in a bid to have more visits as neighbours, sources said.
India and Nepal will hold Surya Kiran joint military exercise, which will take place in October or November. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for building the institute was inked when Nepal President Ram Baran Yadav visited India in 2010.
As India and Nepal try to address their political differences, China has stepped up its ties with Nepal recently.
For the first time, China and Nepal have been connected with an optical fibre network via Tibet, according to Chinese media reports. This is with a view to bring down Nepal’s dependence on India for Internet connectivity.
China has extended its optical fibre network to Nepal via Geelong (Keyrong)-Rasuwgadhi border point, “which has ended Nepal’s sole dependence on India”, Xinhua news agency had reported.
State-owned Nepal Telecom (NT) said its optical fibre network has been connected to China Telecom Corporation Limited.
“After establishing a connection, we conducted technical test about two weeks ago,” Dilliram Adhikari, joint spokesperson of NT, was quoted as saying in same the report.
The Nepal government too has been responding positively to the ties.
“The bilateral relations between the two countries are getting consolidated and they have not been impeded as talked and guessed”, Nepal’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister Kamal Thapa said after his recent visit to India.
India was peeved at Nepal’s new constitution not factoring in the aspirations of its Madheshi population. Nepal government is now looking into the issue, which meanwhile had vitiated the ties between the neighbours.
