Kathmandu, October 15: Preparations have begun in Kathmandu and New Delhi for Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s visit to India in the second week of Mangsir (late November). This will be Shah’s first formal bilateral visit since he assumed office on March 27.
According to high-level diplomatic sources, the date of the visit has yet to be finalised. Although some Indian and Nepali media outlets have reported that Shah will visit India from November 23 to 25 (Mangsir 7–9), officials at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the date had not yet been confirmed.
According to sources, Shah’s visit will last three days, and he is unlikely to travel outside New Delhi. During the visit, Shah will hold delegation-level talks with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, and other senior Indian ministers. Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the two sides are expected to sign various agreements and memorandums of understanding.
Prime Minister Shah travelled to New York in the second week of Asoj to attend the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly. It was his first foreign trip since taking office on March 27. Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal also attended the General Assembly. After returning from the meeting, Khanal said Shah would visit India at an appropriate time. He said both sides wanted to make the visit “productive and result-oriented.”
Immediately after Shah was sworn in as prime minister, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated him and invited him to visit India at a mutually convenient time. Shah’s visit is expected to focus on strengthening relations between the two countries and advancing bilateral cooperation.
According to two senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who spoke to The Kathmandu Post, although the date has yet to be fixed, the two sides have already exchanged a tentative list of projects to be inaugurated and agreements to be signed during the visit.
“There are several serious and complex issues that need to be discussed with India, including the border dispute, air routes and the trade imbalance. Discussions on all these issues will take place after Dashain,” one of the officials said.
Shankar Sharma, Nepal’s former ambassador to India, told the press that some projects were ready for inauguration, while construction of others was about to begin. He said there was also a possibility of signing new agreements during the visit.
The Nepal Police Academy in Panauti, Kavrepalanchok; a bridge in Darchula; the Integrated Check Post in Bhairahawa; and a permanent bridge over the Mahakali River have been completed and are awaiting inauguration.
The two prime ministers are also expected to jointly lay the foundation stones for several projects. These include the Integrated Check Post in Dodhara-Chandani, the Lower Arun Hydropower Project and the petroleum pipeline from Siliguri to Jhapa. India has invested in the projects proposed for inauguration or foundation-laying ceremonies.
As meetings of most bilateral mechanisms have already been completed, officials are examining the possibility of including several major hydropower projects on the prime minister’s visit agenda. These include the 750-megawatt West Seti Hydropower Project, the 480-megawatt Phukot Karnali Hydropower Project and the 450-megawatt Seti River-6 Hydropower Project. India’s state-owned NHPC is involved in all three projects.
Following the devastating floods and landslides in the Bhotekoshi area on August 26, Nepal has already requested grant assistance and concessional loans from India for reconstruction and rehabilitation.
Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle has already visited India and held discussions on the assistance required for post-flood reconstruction.
Government officials are also seeking to reach agreements with India on contentious and long-standing unresolved issues, including the border dispute, additional air-entry points for Nepal, the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project, and matters related to trade and transit.
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