New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba met and held delegation-level talks at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Saturday. "Wide-ranging talks on our multifaceted partnership are on the agenda," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. This is Prime Minister Deuba's first bilateral visit abroad since assuming office for the fifth time in July last year. Deuba, who is accompanied by a high-level delegation is visiting India at the invitation of PM Modi.
Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi informed that the wide-ranging talks between India and Nepal's multifaceted partnership are on the agenda during the meeting. "Working together to take India-Nepal relations to newer heights. The meeting between PM Narendra Modi and PM Sher B Deuba of Nepal gets underway. Wide-ranging talks on our multifaceted partnership are on the agenda," Bagchi tweeted. Earlier in the day, the Nepal PM paid respects to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in New Delhi.
PM Modi and his Nepal counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba also jointly inaugurated cross-border passenger train services, the RuPay payment system in Nepal and signed several Memorandums of Understanding. The train services between Jainagar in India and Kurtha in Nepal were inaugurated after a delegates-level meeting between the two leaders. The passenger train services have been built under India's Grant Assistance. They also inaugurated the Solu Corridor 132 KV power transmission line and sub-station in Nepal built under the government of India's Line of Credit. Further, Nepal joined the International Solar Alliance.
Yesterday, Nepal Prime Minister met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla in the national capital. Earlier, he met Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) President JP Nadda at the party headquarters in a courtesy meeting. "Had a courtesy meeting with Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today. India and Nepal are not just neighbours but are very close to each other even from religious, cultural, linguistic and historic viewpoints," Nadda said in a tweet.
Also read: Nepal PM's visit to India: EAM Jaishankar calls on Deuba
The last Head of State/Head of Government-level visit from Nepal was in May 2019, when then PM K P Oli visited India for the swearing-in ceremony of PM Narendra Modi and the Union Council of Ministers. Before that PM Modi had visited Nepal in August 2018 for the 4th BIMSTEC Summit in Kathmandu, which was preceded by a State Visit to Nepal in May 2018. PM Modi had extended a congratulatory message to Sher Bahadur Deuba soon after he won the Vote of Confidence in Nepal's Parliament. This was followed by a congratulatory telephonic conversation on 19 July 2021.
The most recent meeting between PM Modi and Sher Bahadur Deuba took place on November 2, 2021, on the sidelines of COP 26 in Glasgow. Sher Bahadur Deuba is a veteran politician of the Nepali Congress with a political career spanning over seven decades. This is Deuba's fifth tenure as PM. His first term was from September 1995 to March 1997. He has visited India several times, both when in and out of power. This will be his fifth visit to India as PM, with the last visit being in August 2018. The previous three visits took place in 2004, 2002 and 1996.
with Agency inputs
