KATHMANDU, JUL 26 - External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj has said the new Indian government puts its relations with Nepal in high priority. Swaraj, who arrived here on a three-day official visit on Friday evening, told media persons at the Tribhuvan International Airport that the new Indian government values its ties with Nepal.
“I am here two months after the formation of a new government in India,” said Swaraj. “The Narendra Modi government has placed its relations with Saarc and India’s neighbours in high priority.”
“I am here to attend a joint commission meeting that is taking place after 23 years. I am hopeful from this meeting,” Swaraj said in Hindi.
She is the first high-level foreign official to visit Nepal after the second Constituent Assembly elections held in November last year.
Foreign Minister Mahendra Bahadur Pandey will inaugurate the third meeting of Nepal-India Joint Commission jointly with his Indian counterpart Swaraj. Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Nepal on August 3 and 4, the forum will see discussions on a wide range of issues and agendas.
The meeting will review bilateral relations in their entirety. The joint commission is mandated to review, assess and evaluate past agreements, project performance and the jobs carried out by the 32 mechanisms established at various levels between the two countries. The meeting is expected to seek a way to streamline the channels and provide an impetus to bilateral ties. Though the joint commission meeting is inaugurated at Yak and Yeti Hotel on Saturday, the two sides sat together in five groups on Friday to hammer out agreements and understanding as part of the preparations. Officials of various ministries from Nepal and India formed five groups for the discussion.
All five cluster-wise meetings went smooth and were expected to announce some agreements and pacts, said a senior official.
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