. This is the first official visit of Minister for Foreign Affairs Shishir Khanal to India after the formation of the incumbent government.

Minister Khanal, who arrived in New Delhi on Friday at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, held delegation level talks with his Indian counterpart on Saturday.

Discussions were held on development cooperation, expansion of connectivity, trade and transit, energy and strengthening the people-to-people relations, among others.

During the talks, views were exchanged on regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest besides reviewing the entire gamut of Nepal-India relations, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The two ministers expressed satisfaction at the progress of bilateral cooperation in various sectors and welcomed efforts in the areas of innovation and startup, digital and financial sectors.

Both sides agreed to intensify efforts to further strengthen Nepal-India multifaceted partnership to a new height. Both sides welcomed the completion of the internal procedures required for the implementation of the Nepal-India Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement (MLAA). The agreement will provide an institutional legal basis for effective investigation, prosecution and judicial proceedings related to trans-border crimes.

Following the bilateral talks, External Affairs Minister of India Dr Jaishankar handed over 72 health facilities and 12 cultural heritage projects completed under India’s 2015 “Post-Earthquake Reconstruction Assistance” programme.

In a bid to facilitate cross-border personal remittances between Nepal and India, the two ministers jointly launched a peer-to-peer linkage between India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Nepal’s National Payments Interface (NPI).

Likewise, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Digital India Bhashini and Kathmandu University (KU) to co-build a national digital infrastructure for a voice-first language translation platform. During his stay in New Delhi, Khanal also met India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Foreign Affairs Chief. He met with Vijay Chauthaiwale separately.

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The visit has provided an opportunity to exchange views on expanding bilateral partnership as per the aspirations of the peoples of both the countries and has injected new energy in the ongoing efforts in that direction.

The visit has also reinforced the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two friendly neighbours. India has been giving high priority to its relations with its South Asian neighbours including Nepal under its ‘Neighbourhood First’ foreign policy and has been making efforts to strengthen mutual trust, connectivity, trade, development partnership and people-to-people contacts. The visit of Minister Khanal is believed to be successful in further strengthening bilateral relations by further strengthening mutual trust and understanding.