Nepal's Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali meets EAM Jaishankar in New Delhi

On January 15, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali met External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. Gyawali is on a three-day visit to India from January 14 to 16. During his trip, he is expected to discuss COVID-19 related cooperation while also reviewing last year’s border row between the two nations when Nepal published a new political map that showed the three Indian territories - Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipulekh - as Nepal. 

Gyawali is to co-chair the sixth India-Nepal Joint Commission meeting. He is being accompanied by Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Poudyal and Secretary at the Ministry of Health and Population Laxmi Aryal. The joint commission is the highest mechanism between the two countries to discuss bilateral relations. 

After Nepal PM KP Sharma Oil had triggered a border row last year, India had termed it a “unilateral act” and said such “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims will not be accepted by the nation. India had said that Nepal’s action violated an understanding reached between the two countries to resolve the boundary issues through talks. The bilateral exchanges and the bitter dispute over boundary issues were reset in the later part of 2020 with a series of visits. 

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Foreign Secretary’s visit to Nepal 

Back in November, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that he had “very productive and useful” talks with his Nepali counterpart Bharat Raj Paudyal. After meeting Paudyal during his two-day visit to Nepal, the first one since Shringla assumed the office, he said that both sides discussed the range of issues for bilateral cooperation. Foreign Secretary said that 'the way a large number of issues of bilateral cooperation that we went through, it shows the multifaceted and comprehensive nature of our cooperation.’

Shringla also informed that both sides have agreed on several measures to enhance the areas of cooperation and added the progress was “good” by leaders of both neighbouring nations. He had said that both India and Nepal have “very strong” ties and their endeavour would further enhance the relationship. 

(With inputs from ANI) 

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