Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Thursday flagged off the Indian Railway cargo train from Bathnaha in Bihar to Nepal Custom yard. Both Prime Ministers also unveiled the e-plan of the Kurtha-Bijalpura section of the Railway. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Nepalese counterpart at Hyderabad House in Delhi for bilateral talks. Both sides are keen to expand the overall ties and a number of agreements were firmed in the bilateral talks that were held today.
PM Modi and his Nepalese counterpart virtually inaugurated integrated check posts at Rupaidiha in India and Nepalgunj in Nepal.
In the delegation-level talks held today, both sides were expected to ink a number of agreements. The Nepalese Prime Minister is also scheduled to call on President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.
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Bilateral Talks On Cooperation Between India And Nepal
As for the bilateral talks, Nepalese Foreign Minister N P Saud, who is part of Prachanda's delegation, said a wide range of matters, including trade, transit, connectivity, and border issues will figure in the discussions. Transforming the civilisational ties between India and Nepal with deeper cooperation in areas of connectivity, economy, energy, and infrastructure is expected to be a focus area of talks between Modi and Prachanda, PTI reported citing people familiar with the matter.
One of the key priority areas would be to further deepen the power sector cooperation through new initiatives across the entire spectrum of cooperation, they said, as per PTI's report. The India-Nepal joint vision statement on power sector cooperation of April last year is considered a milestone and Nepal has been exporting over 450 MW of electricity to India. The two Prime Ministers are also likely to review the India-Nepal development partnership which forms the key pillar of the bilateral ties.
Nepal is important for India in the context of its overall strategic interests in the region, and the leaders of the two countries have often noted the age-old "Roti Beti" relationship.
Nepal is an important country for New Delhi as the country shares a border of over 1,850 km with five Indian states – Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. The land-locked nation relies heavily on India for the transportation of goods and services. Nepal's access to the sea is through India, and it imports a predominant proportion of its requirements from and through India. The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 forms the bedrock of the special relations between the two countries. On Friday morning, the Nepalese Prime Minister will travel to Indore and will leave for Kathmandu the next day.
It is Prachanda's first bilateral trip abroad after assuming the top office in December 2022. We are committed to strengthening ties between the two countries, the Nepalese Prime Minister said at the event at the embassy.