Holding the office since December 2022, the Nepalese PM Pushpa Kumar Prachanda is all set to make his first foreign visit to India.
Source: NDTV.com
Newly elected Nepal PM Pushpa Kumar Dahal a.k.a ‘Prachanda’ is likely to visit India on 28th April; sources familiar with the matter confirmed a major news agency. The date for the said visit was proposed by the Indian side to the Nepalese side, informed Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister Secretariat. An official from the PM secretariat confirmed to a major news agency, “If the political situation of Nepal remains normal in the coming days, the PM will embark on a 3-day visit to India. This will be his first international visit.”
Both the sides are likely to have discussions on 2 Hydropower projects, a electricity transmission project, various railway services such as Jaynagar-Janakpur railway line (35 km), Raxaul-Kathmandu railway line among others. The confirmed date of visit is likely to be informed shortly by the officials.
February this year there was an agreement between National Payments Corporation of India and Gateway Payments Services and Manam Infotech to deploy UPI services in Nepal. With this Nepal became the first country outside India to adopt India’s indigenous real time payment system developed by National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI). The Indian and Nepalese counterparts are likely to have a discussion on this development as well.
Source: Elets Technology
Prachanda, who is said to be closer to China, had earlier visited New Delhi after the 2008 Beijing Olympics and in 2016 in official capacity. So this would be the 3rd time the 68-year old Communist Party of Nepal (forth convention) leader visits India. The 2024 visit will be his first official foreign visit after electing to the prime ministerial post on 26th December 2022. In July 2019 the leader had also visited India at the request of BJP president JP Nadda. He had also paid his visit to BJP headquarter which had sparked a row in the country.
The visit which was announced in February this year was kept on hold due to No confidence Motion against Prachanda in March this year and the proposed expansion of the Nepalese cabinet. The cabinet expansion continues till date with the PM and president of Congress appointing N.P. Saud as foreign affairs minister two days ago. The newly elected Foreign minister was Irrigation Minister in 2014 Sushila-Koirala led government. The various positions in the cabinet are yet still held by Prachanda.
The proposed visit is likely to strengthen the Indo-Nepal ties and move Nepal closer to India.
India-Nepal relations
After reaching the nadir of relations in 2020 when the then PM KP Sharma Oli introduced a new map of Nepal claiming various Indian territories the relations have improved so far. The two sides have entered into many agreements since then. In the July 2022 visit of Nepalese PM Sher Bahadur Deoba the two sides signed four major agreements and MOUs. India is Nepal’s largest trading partner with an annual trade of more than 7 Billion dollars.
India is Nepal’s biggest source of foreign investment and the trade between both the countries has shown an increase of a whopping 42% year-on-year. Since independence India has maintained cordial relations with Nepal. Both the countries have many cultural similarities giving India a boost in soft power in the Himalayan nation. The energy surplus country exports 400MW energy to India. The treaty of Peace and Friendship between Nepal and India signed in 1950 allows free movement of goods and people across borders. This agreement forms the bedrock of relations between India and Nepal.
