After three back-to-back high-level visits from India—Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Army Chief General M.M. Naravane and R&AW chief Samant Goel— the India-Nepal relations seem to be back on the track, as Kathmandu is sending its foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali to New Delhi on a return visit, Nepali and Indian officials told IANS.
At the invitation of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, foreign minister Gyawali will be visiting New Delhi on 22-23 December to take part in the sixth meeting of joint commission between Nepal and India at foreign minister level. The joint commission is the highest level mechanism between the two countries. During the occasion, Gyawali will call on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders.
In an interview to a local television channel, Gyawali confirmed that he is visiting New Delhi in a bilateral visit and would raise the issue of boundary dispute strongly.
Ties between Nepal and India had hit rock-bottom after Nepal issued a new map in May. The map was issued in response to India opening a strategic road to the Lipulekh border region, which is claimed by Nepal. Then India called it “ cartographic assertion” and declined to sit in talks.
“Whether I go on an official visit or to take part in the meeting of the joint commission, the boundary dispute would be the major agenda from our side,” Gyawali said in the interview.
After a month-long silence, Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli rang up his Indian counterpart on India’s Independence Day on August 15 where both leaders agreed to work together and resume talks and dialogue that had been stalled since November last year after India came up with a new political map followed by the Covid pandemic.
The issue of boundary dispute is already on the table and India is ready to discuss it, Gyawali said in the interview. During the recent Nepal visit of Indian foreign secretary, the issue of boundary dispute figured in the meeting. WITH IANS INPUTS