Kathmandu. India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will visit Nepal on 11 and 12 May. According to officials of the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu and the Nepali Embassy in Delhi, informal talks have begun between the two sides to schedule Misri’s two-day visit. Misri was sent a formal invitation by Nepal’s Foreign Secretary Amrit Rai.
This will be the first visit of a senior diplomat from India after the formation of the new government under the leadership of Balendra Shah. However, before this, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal and Indian Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar had met during the Ninth Indian Ocean Conference held in Mauritius.
In this meeting, Jaishankar had said that to make the visits of Foreign Minister and Prime Minister productive, it is important to understand the priorities of the new Nepal government. For this purpose, he had proposed to send Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri to Kathmandu. However, the agenda of Misri’s visit to Kathmandu has not been made public yet.
According to officials associated with the visit, they will discuss the priorities of the new government in Kathmandu and the expectations of New Delhi. Speaking to Nepali journalists in New Delhi on Saturday, Vikram said that he will visit Kathmandu very soon. It is believed that during this time, he can also hand over an invitation letter to Nepal’s Prime Minister Shah to visit India on behalf of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to MEA officials, Minister Shishir Khanal is in constant discussion with various ministers on the status of India-supported projects, their progress, obstacles encountered and new areas of cooperation. In the meeting of Khanal and Jaishankar in Mauritius, it was agreed that before the high-level meetings, both the countries would activate bilateral mechanisms and identify new areas of cooperation, keeping in mind their respective priorities.
Nearly three dozen bilateral mechanisms exist between Nepal and India, from the district level to the Foreign Minister level, including security, water resources, irrigation, border management, trade, commerce and agriculture. Some of these meetings are held regularly, while some have not been held for years.
Dozens of projects are going on in Nepal with India’s economic and technical assistance. Good progress has been made in some of these, while some projects have still not progressed as per the target.
As per the agreement reached in Mauritius, Nepal’s Foreign Ministry is preparing to decide its priorities. Officials say more meetings will be held at various levels before Vikram arrives in Kathmandu.
After Misri returns to New Delhi, Nepal’s priorities will be discussed with the political leadership there, which may pave the way for future high-level visits. Meanwhile, the visit of Nepal Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal to India has also been decided. He will participate in the India Africa Forum Summit to be held in New Delhi in late May.
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