Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra, who is in Nepal on a two-day official visit, has paid a courtesy call on Foreign Minister Bimala Rai Paudyal.
Held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, various aspects of Nepal-India relations including the power sector cooperation, trade, transit, education, culture, healthcare and connectivity infrastructure were discussed during the meeting, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) tweeted.
Foreign Minister Rai Paudyal said the leaders, in the meeting, discussed the new air route for the Pokhara International Airport and the Gautam Buddha Airport.
Similarly, Paudyal also put forth a proposal to raise a common voice on the issue of climate change on the international forum by the South Asian countries.
Kwatra, who landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport this morning, was welcomed by Nepal’s Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal. As soon as he landed in Kathmandu, he held a secretary-level meeting with his Nepali counterpart Bharat Raj Paudyal at Yak and Yeti Hotel in the capital city Kathmandu.
The bilateral meeting covered a half a dozen topics of bilateral cooperation, including connectivity, electricity trade, tourism, agriculture, health and culture, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
During the meeting, both sides agreed to further strengthen their economic and development cooperation for benefits of the two countries and region as a whole,
“Foreign Secretary Shri Vinay Kwatra met his counterpart Mr Bharat Raj Paudyal and reviewed the wide-ranging India-Nepal partnership,” the Indian Embassy tweeted.
Kwatra is also scheduled to hold meetings with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’and President Bidya Devi Bhandari, CPN (UML) Chairman KP Sharma Oli, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba among others during his stay in Kathmandu.
According to sources, Kwatra will meet with Janamat Party Chairman Chantra Kanta (CK) Raut, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party Chairman Mahantha Thakur and Janata Samajbadi Party Chairman Uprendra Yadav. He will also pay a courtesy call on Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Rajendra Lingden, it is learnt.
This is the first highest level official visit to Nepal from southern neighbor India after Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ took charge as the Prime Minister on December 25 last year.
Indian Foreign Secretary will return home on Tuesday.
