Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri To Visit Nepal On August 17–18 Ahead Of PM Oli’s Planned India Trip

<p>New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will pay a two-day visit to Nepal beginning Sunday as part of the preparations for Nepalese Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli’s planned trip to India next month.</p>
<p>The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Misri is travelling to the Himalayan country following an invitation from his Nepalese counterpart, Amrit Bahadur Rai.</p>
<p>”India and Nepal share strong and friendly ties which have seen concrete progress in recent years in diverse areas of cooperation,” it said, announcing Misri’s August 17-18 visit.</p>
<p>Nepal is important for India in the context of its overall strategic interests in the region and the leaders of the two countries have often noted the age-old “Roti-Beti” relationship.</p>
<p>Land-locked Nepal relies heavily on India for the transportation of goods and services. Nepal’s access to the sea is through India and it imports a predominant proportion of its requirements from and through India.</p>
<p>The MEA said India attaches high priority to its relations with Nepal under its Neighbourhood First policy.</p>
<p>”The foreign secretary’s upcoming visit continues the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries and will be an opportunity to further advance our bilateral ties,” it said.</p>
<p>People familiar with the matter said the main focus of Misri’s engagements in Kathmandu will be on preparing the ground for Oli’s trip to New Delhi next month.</p>
<p>Oli is likely to visit India around September 16, according to diplomatic sources.</p>
<p>However, no official announcement on the trip is yet to be made. PTI MPB RC</p>
<p><em><strong>(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)</strong></em></p>