India, Nepal foreign secretaries meet to advance bilateral cooperation

In a further fillip to India-Nepal relations, foreign secretaries from both countries met in the capital on Wednesday and held discussions on the entire range of multifaceted cooperation between the South Asian neighbours.

In her first visit to India since assuming charge, Nepal’s Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal met her Indian counterpart Vinay Kwatra and the two also followed up on the 7th India-Nepal Joint Commission Meeting.

This meeting was co-chaired by the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and the Foreign Minister of Nepal N. P. Saud in Kathmandu last month.

Sewa Lamsal arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday to participate in the 8th Asia Economic Dialogue 2024, which is being jointly convened by the Ministry of External Affairs and Pune International Centre on February 29 in Pune.

The 2024 Dialogue is focused on the theme ‘Geo-economic Challenges in an Era of Flux’ and will witness a large number of speakers from different countries.

On her arrival, she met S. Jaishankar on Tuesday who was “pleased” to hear about the the progress in bilateral relations between the two countries.

“Happy to receive Foreign Secretary @sewa_lamsal of Nepal today in Delhi. Pleased to hear from her about progress in various aspects of our bilateral relations,” EAM Jaishankar wrote in a post on X.

The Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday that Lamsal’s visit is in “keeping with the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries and the priority India attaches to its relations with Nepal under its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy”.

The visit, it said, also provides an opportunity to further advance bilateral ties.

Lamsal, who assumed the charge in December 2023, will return to Kathmandu on March 1.