Kathmandu, Sept 18: Finance Minister Dr Swarnim Wagle is due to meet Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday as his India visit moves into a second day of diplomatic and economic discussions.
The meeting is scheduled for 5 pm, a day after Wagle held bilateral talks with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. He arrived in India on Thursday for a three-day visit.
Friday’s programme also includes a diplomatic dialogue hosted by former Indian foreign secretary Shyam Saran at the India International Centre. Wagle is scheduled to address the gathering as chief guest at 9 am.
At Bharat Mandapam, he will join a separate event hosted by India Trade Promotion Organisation chairman Jawed Ashraf. The discussions will cover various aspects of economic cooperation between Nepal and India.
India is Nepal’s largest trading partner and a major source of foreign investment. It also provides transit routes for Nepal’s trade with other countries, while bilateral cooperation extends to power generation, transmission lines and transport infrastructure. Bilateral merchandise trade totalled about US$9.38 billion in India’s 2025/26 financial year, according to the Indian embassy, with petroleum, machinery and cereals among India’s main exports to Nepal.
The visit comes as Nepal deals with the damage caused by the August 26 Bhotekoshi flood, which disrupted hydropower production. India has approved electricity exports of up to 654 megawatts to Nepal for 18 hours daily until December 31 to help address the resulting shortfall.
Wagle’s delegation includes Finance Ministry Joint Secretary Amrit Lamsal and Foreign Ministry Joint Secretary Gehendra Rajbhandari. Also participating are Dr Surendra Thapa, deputy chief of mission at Nepal’s embassy in New Delhi, Economic Minister Taranath Adhikari and Wagle’s private undersecretary, Kanchan Basnet.
The delegation will hold further meetings with private sector representatives and other senior figures on Saturday before returning to Nepal.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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