My visit to India helped enhance mutual goodwill, strengthen relations: Foreign Minister

KATHMANDU: Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba has said that her recent official visit to India has played a significant role towards contributing to enhance the mutual goodwill as well as to the promotion of cooperation and collaboration between the two countries.

Minister Rana was briefing about her India visit in a meeting of the Parliament’s International Relations and Tourism Committee held at Singha Durbar today. She expressed the confidence that the visit contributed to further strengthening the friendly, cooperative, multi-faceted and close relations subsisting between the two countries on the basis of mutual equality and benefit.

Apart from this, the visit also provided a guideline to expand contact at high level and various levels as well as to promote cooperation and collaboration for mutual benefit through the bilateral mechanism also.

Responding to lawmakers’ queries, the Minister for Foreign Affairs stated that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a positive response to an invitation for him to visit Nepal. Stating that she had undertaken an official visit to India from August 18-22 and on the occasion also paid a courtesy call on the Indian Prime Minister.

“On behalf of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, I conveyed warm greetings and best wishes to the Indian Prime Minister and also formally handed to him an invitation that PM Oli had extended to him for a state visit to Nepal,” she said, adding that the Indian PM happily acknowledged the invitation and gave a positive response for a visit to Nepal.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Rana had visited India at the invitation of Minister for External Affairs of India, S Jaishankar. She held a courtesy meeting with the Indian PM in New Delhi on August 19.

According to her, on the occasion discussions were held on further consolidating the friendly ties subsisting between Nepal and India and on expanding the existing collaboration on matters of mutual benefit.

Foreign Minister Rana said the bilateral meeting she had with her Indian counterpart at Hyderabad House in New Delhi earlier the same day remained significant. On the occasion, the two Foreign Ministers had discussed expanding cooperation in trade and transit, increasing the quantity of electricity exported to India from Nepal, extending the cross-border connectivity and promoting Indian investment in Nepal.

Also, she said that talks were held to take forward necessary discussions for granting more air routes to Nepal, for mobilization of related mechanisms for resolving the problems of flooding and inundation and taking ahead the Pancheshwar Multi-purpose Project on priority basis.

Foreign Minister Rana said talks were held on overall topics of Nepal-India relations, including cooperation in sports sector, capacity enhancement of sportspersons and construction of a cricket stadium at Phapla of Dhangadhi as well as on construction and expansion of border infrastructures.

It is stated that besides this agreement was reached on giving continuity to contacts at various levels on several topics through the existing bilateral mechanism.

The Foreign Affairs Minister said that she specifically brought up the topic of air route and an agreement has been reached in principle for the technical committee to hold the necessary discussions on this matter.

Noting that the government has been conducting the country’s international relations and diplomacy as per Nepal’s foreign policy focusing on protecting and promoting the national interest, she asserted that Nepal is being represented in the international forums ensuring Nepal’s interest as specified by the Constitution and the foreign policy.

Minister Rana reiterated that the present government is committed to mobilizing Nepal’s foreign-based diplomatic missions, the mission chiefs taking the supreme interest of the nation into account.

She assured that this government shall make maximum efforts to make the appointment of ambassadors more systematized, dignified, transparent and capacity and performance-based on the main basis of the spirit of the constitution and the guidelines on appointment of ambassadors.

Foreign Minister Rana stated that the policy of appointing at least 50 per cent ambassadors from the Foreign Service has been continued this time as well for maintaining balance between political appointment and appointment from the career diplomats.

She also informed the Committee that preparations were being made for signing four important agreements with Oman on tourism, health, labor and foreign affairs.