Indian, Nepalese diplomats discuss bilateral projects after months of acrimony

The meeting did not take up Kalapani territorial dispute

August 17, 2020 04:56 pm | Updated 04:57 pm IST - NEW DELHI

Indian and Nepalese diplomats on Monday met in Kathmandu and reviewed the status of a number of ongoing bilateral projects. This is the first diplomat-level meeting between the two sides in the current year that saw the Kalapani territorial dispute . The talks marked the Eighth Meeting of Nepal-India Oversight Mechanism. The meeting did not take up the territorial dispute but the officials reviewed the status of construction of bridges over the Mahakali river, which is near the disputed region.

Also read: For a reset in India-Nepal relations

“Both sides underlined the need for the expeditious implementation of the bilateral projects. In this connection, they agreed to undertake necessary measures to timely address problems and obstacles in the course of implementation”, declared a press statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal.

The two teams, led by Nepalese Foreign Secretary Shankar Bairagi and Indian Ambassador in Kathmandu Vinay Mohan Kwatra discussed cross-border railways, Arun-III hydropower project, petroleum products, pipelines, Pancheshwar multipurpose project, post earthquake reconstruction, irrigation, power and transmission lines, construction of Nepal Police Academy and Ramayana projects among other items.

The discussion came two days after Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli greeted his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the 74th Independence day of India and sought “meaningful bilateral dialogue”. The Oversight Mechanism is not usually tasked with discussing controversial border disputes between India and Nepal that are in the domain of the two Foreign Secretaries alone. Nepal has urged India to convene a Foreign Secretary-level dialogue to discuss the territorial disputes of Susta and Kalapani but New Delhi has not yet agreed on a possible date.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.