09 August, 2017
Kathmandu: Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who took over from Maoist leader Prachanda in a power- sharing deal in June, will visit India this month on his first official trip overseas, the foreign ministry announced on Tuesday.
The visit, announced by the foreign ministry on Monday, comes against the backdrop of a almost two-month military standoff between India and China.
Officials in Kathmandu also indicted that Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar is also likely to visit Nepal ahead of the visit, probably after the visit of Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang on August 14.
"We are working for some concrete outcomes during the visit", Mahara said.
In response to a media query, DPM Mahara said Nepal was of the view that her two big neighbors-China and India maintain cordial relations through peaceful diplomacy and dialogue.
"We do not support any outcome that comes out of war", he added, saying that Nepal will maintain its nonaligned policy over the issue while denying that no pressure on Nepal from India or China to tilt to either side.
According to the document released on Monday, Nepal's global stature should be level up and effective economic diplomacy for prosperous Nepal.
"We do not want to see any incident of confrontation and conflict due to this issue", he said.
On the occasion, the Foreign Minister said the major immediate goal of Nepal's foreign policy was an effective practice of economic diplomacy for a prosperous Nepal, while also raising Nepal's pride and prestige at the global level.
The action plan also states that regular interactions on important topics from the view point of foreign policy and contemporaneity with the ministry employees, ambassadors and experts for the structural reform of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Officials said further discussions on Deuba's visit will be held after the conclusion of the BIMSTEC ministerial meeting to be held in Kathmandu on Friday. Following this visit, External Affairs Minsiter, Sushma Swaraj would travel to Kathmandu to take part in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation on August 10.
Some of the key issues are execution of the decade-old Mahakali Treaty, a memorandum of understanding on reconstruction projects in Nepal, expediting India-funded projects and several cross-border connectivity projects.
