Nepal's Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and presented an invitation from Nepalese Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli to visit Nepal on a state visit on Monday, said an official statement.
Rana is visiting India at an official invitation from External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and called on Prime Minister Modi. According to a statement issued by Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she extended warm greetings and best wishes from PM Oli and extended an invitation to Prime Minister Modi.
Both parties outlined prospects for further consolidation of relations between Nepal and India and expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.
Rana also had a bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in which they reviewed various aspects of the Nepal-India relations on trade and transit, energy, connectivity, investment, air routes, flood and inundation, the Pancheshwor Multipurpose Project, sports, and border infrastructures. Both sides agreed on continuation of engagements at various levels through regular bilateral mechanisms.
He congratulated Rana on her appointment as the Foreign Minister of Nepal and appreciated the current momentum in high-level engagements between two countries. He accepted an invitation for a state visit to Nepal at mutually convenient dates to be worked out through diplomatic channels, the Ministry of External Affairs has said.
Deuba has come to India on a five-day visit, the first official visit abroad since he assumed office. Her visit comes a week after the visit to Kathmandu by the Foreign Secretary of India, Vikram Misri.
For India, Nepal assumes the status of an important neighbor, especially in light of its general strategic interests. The leaders of both countries have, at numerous instances, referred to the traditional "Roti Beti" relationship between the two nations. With a more than 1,850 km boundary shared with five Indian states, namely Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, Nepal remains heavily dependent upon India for the transportation of goods and services.
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