Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri held a series of high-level engagements in Nepal during a two-day official visit aimed at reviewing the broad spectrum of India-Nepal cooperation and preparing for Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah's forthcoming visit to India.

The visit took place on 4-5 November at the invitation of Nepalese Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai, reflecting the continued tradition of regular diplomatic exchanges between the two neighbouring countries.

During his visit, Misri called on Prime Minister Balendra Shah and conveyed greetings from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Their discussions focused on the progress achieved in bilateral cooperation and preparations for Shah's upcoming trip to India.

Misri underlined the extensive nature of India-Nepal engagement and highlighted the overall progress made across a wide range of sectors. He also explored possible outcomes and new initiatives that could be announced or advanced during the Nepalese Prime Minister's visit to India.

The Foreign Secretary separately met Nepal's Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle, Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Biraj Bhakta Shrestha, and Minister for Infrastructure Development Sunil Lamsal.

On 5 November, Misri and Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai led delegation-level talks, reviewing ongoing collaboration and examining opportunities to further strengthen the mutually beneficial partnership between the two countries.

As part of his programme of engagements, Misri also interacted with Nepalese parliamentarians, including members of the India-Nepal Parliamentary Friendship Group and Nepal's Parliamentary Committee on International Relations and Tourism.

Nepalese leaders expressed appreciation for India's "swift and substantial humanitarian and technical assistance" following the devastating Rasuwa-Bhotekoshi floods, which caused significant damage and disruption in the region.

Both sides expressed satisfaction with the steady expansion of cooperation in traditional areas such as trade and commerce, development partnership, hydropower, physical connectivity, border management, energy cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

The discussions also explored emerging areas of collaboration, including Start-Ups, digital connectivity, artificial intelligence (AI) and sports, reflecting the evolving nature of the bilateral relationship.

"Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to all round enhancement of the bilateral partnership," according to the joint statement issued after the visit.

The visit reinforced the close friendship between India and Nepal and underscored both countries' intention to deepen cooperation across established and emerging sectors ahead of Prime Minister Balendra Shah's forthcoming visit to India, which is expected to provide further momentum to bilateral ties.

ANI