Energy, Trade To Be Focus Of PM Modi’s Talks With Nepal Counterpart

New Delhi:  Boosting India-Nepal cooperation in areas of energy, connectivity and trade is set to be the focus of talks on Thursday between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart Pushpakamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’.

Pushpaamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ arrived in Delhi on Wednesday afternoon on a four-day visit to India, his first bilateral trip abroad after assuming the top office in December 2022.

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.

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 PM Modi and Prime Minister Prachanda on Thursday, people familiar with the matter said.

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.

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 relations.

Strengthening the financial connectivity between two countries would be a discussion point, said one of the people cited above.

In April last year, RuPay card was launched in Nepal during the visit of the then Nepalese prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to India.

Mr Prachanda was received at the airport in Delhi by Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi.

Previously, he visited India in 2016 and in 2008 in his capacity as the Nepalese prime minister.