Blitz Bureau
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri arrived in Kathmandu on August 12 on an official two-day Nepal visit at the invitation of his Nepalese counterpart Sewa Lamsal.
Misri will hold talks with Nepalese officials on boosting the bilateral relations between the two nations to further strengthen the Indian-Nepal bilateral ties under India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.
Earlier, announcing the visit, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the Foreign Secretary’s visit continues the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two nations.
“India and Nepal share an age-old civilizational, cultural, and people-to-people connect, and bilateral cooperation between the two countries has further strengthened in recent years with continued momentum in high-level exchanges and major infrastructure and connectivity projects in Nepal having been completed and new ones undertaken with Government of India’s assistance,” the MEA said in a statement.
“This visit of the Foreign Secretary will be an opportunity to further advance our bilateral ties,” it added.
Misri’s Nepal visit is also the first by any Indian official after the country’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli assumed charge.
Ahead of Misri’s visit, marking a significant milestone in India-Nepal space cooperation, the MEA on August 10 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bengaluru-based NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) for grant assistance for the launch of Munal satellite. The satellite developed in Nepal, under the aegis of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), will be launched on NSIL’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on a gratis basis.
