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Kathmandu, July 28. Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Mishri returns to New Delhi after a “marathon” meeting with top Nepali political leaders.
Foreign Minister Mishra arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday morning at the invitation of Foreign Minister Seva Ramsar. Mishra, who came to Nepal for the first time as foreign minister, met Nepali Prime Minister Sharma Oli and started political meetings.
He again reached Singh Durbar before leaving Nepal on Monday afternoon. He held separate meetings with External Affairs Minister Arju Deuba Rana and External Affairs Minister Seva Ramsar.
During his stay in Nepal, Foreign Minister Mishri held “marathon” meetings with political leaders. On Sunday, President Ramchandra Paudel, Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal met Prachanda separately.
On Sunday evening, second-tier leaders of all major parties were invited to a five-star hotel for a group meeting.
The Indian Foreign Minister invited leaders of the Congress, the United Marxist-Leninist, the Maoists, the Raswami Party (RASWPA) and other parties to dinner at the Yak & Yeti Hotel at 7:30 pm. According to a participant, Foreign Minister Mishri arrived a little late. The leaders of various countries who came to accept the Foreign Minister’s dinner invitation were a little awkward when they met.
At the dinner with the ambassador, Nepali Congress Minister Gagan Thapa, Spokesperson Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat, former Vice President Bimarenda Nidhi, Deputy Secretary General Vishnu Rimal, Deputy Secretary General Pradeep Gyawali, Standing Committee Member and Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister of the CPN-UML Rajan Bhattarai were present.
Similarly, CPN-M vice-chairman Pampa Bhusal, deputy general secretaries Varshman Pun and Janardhan Sharma, NIP executive spokesperson Manish Jha and others also reached the Jacques and Yeti hotels.
On Monday, External Affairs Minister Mishra met Deputy Prime Minister and Urban Development Minister Prakashman Singh, Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel, Industries Minister Damodar Bhandari and others at the ministry.
He met the External Affairs Minister and Secretary and returned to Delhi. According to the leaders, Mishri’s first visit to Nepal after taking office as External Affairs Minister seemed to be to introduce himself. “It is a tradition to visit neighboring countries first after taking office as External Affairs Minister, and his visit was also an introductory visit,” said Rajan Bhattarai, member of the Marxist-Leninist Standing Committee.
Mishri himself said the same in a brief speech at a party leaders’ dinner on Sunday evening.
In 2007, when Pranab Mukherjee visited Nepal as foreign minister, he recalled that he was also in the delegation and said: “After becoming foreign minister, I went to Bhutan and then came to Nepal.” I am here to introduce myself.
He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1989 and has never worked in Nepal. Former Indian Foreign Minister Vinay Mohan Kwatra rose through the ranks while serving as India’s ambassador to Nepal.
Mishri has worked in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat for a long time. He served as the personal secretary to Indian Prime Ministers IK Gujral, Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi. He served as China’s ambassador to India from January 2019 to December 2021 and has worked in various missions in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. He then went on to serve as Deputy National Security Advisor and became Foreign Secretary after Vinay Mohan Kwatra retired.
After coming to Nepal as foreign secretary, he not only met with Nepali leaders and introduced himself, but the leaders said he also tried to understand the latest political developments in Nepal.
In particular, the new alliance between the Congress and the UML on June 17 was unexpected for the Indian establishment. “During this visit, he tried to understand how Nepal’s politics will move forward,” said a leader.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two foreign ministers discussed energy, digital connectivity, agriculture, tourism, trade and transport cooperation during their meeting. “The two foreign ministers agreed to deepen cooperation through bilateral mechanisms,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement said.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs also issued a statement on Monday saying that during Foreign Minister Mishri’s visit to Nepal, details of the progress of bilateral cooperation were reviewed.
“Both sides mentioned that satisfactory progress had been made in the past year in physical connectivity, digital connectivity, energy connectivity, and bilateral cooperation at the people-to-people level,” the statement said, adding that “roads, bridges, integrated checkpoints, cross-border railways, and oil pipelines” had been discussed.
The two sides reportedly appreciated the progress made in the field of energy cooperation. “The exponential growth in hydropower exports has created an additional source of income for Nepal and clean energy for India,” the statement said.
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