Tag: India Nepal Relations

  • 25-year power pact, cross-border digital payments on agenda for Prachanda’s India visit

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: A 25-year agreement on power purchase, launching of an inter-country digital payment system (like the UPI), and trilateral trade between India, Nepal and Bangladesh are some of the decisions likely to be announced during the upcoming state visit of Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) to India next week (May 31 to June 3).

    Prachanda will be accompanied by a large delegation including officials from Nepal’s foreign, energy, trade and infrastructure ministries. He is expected to visit Mumbai too, but will arrive in Delhi first where he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval among others. He will also be having interactions with the business community, say sources.

    While a joint communique would be issued at the end of the visit, the draft prepared for the visit by the Nepalese government includes increasing two-way air traffic, inter-country digital payment with India for Nepali companies, trilateral electricity trade with Bangladesh, a power purchase agreement between India and Nepal for 25 years, Lower Arun and Phukot Karnali hydropower development project and Amlekhgunj Lothar and Siliguri-Jhapa petroleum pipeline construction agreement.

    ALSO READ | Is hydropower the key to propel India-Nepal ties to a new high?

    “More than half a dozen agreements and memoranda of understanding are likely to be signed and announced. The agreements will likely include subscribing to a digital payment mode that would ease cross-border payments using e-wallet and building of bridges in Chandani-Dodhara and the Jhulaghat areas across the Mahakali River in Kanchanpur and Darchula districts respectively,” said a source.

    Nepal is also likely to put in a request to extend an India-funded petroleum pipeline inside Nepali territory. There could be an agreement on a new petroleum pipeline to be constructed from Siliguri to Jhapa and storage facilities and extension of present Motihari-Amlekhgunj petroleum pipeline to Lothar, Chitwan.

    Biratnagar-Bathnaha (India) railway line is said to be nearing completion and a formal announcement about it is expected to be made during the visit. Besides, there is a possibility of India sharing a project report of the Kathmandu-Raxaul railway line.

    Nepal is also seeking to expand connectivity with India by air and is looking at India to fly into Bhairahawa airport in Lumbini.

    Meanwhile, Nepal is also likely to seek a resolution of the boundary issue.

    NEW DELHI: A 25-year agreement on power purchase, launching of an inter-country digital payment system (like the UPI), and trilateral trade between India, Nepal and Bangladesh are some of the decisions likely to be announced during the upcoming state visit of Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) to India next week (May 31 to June 3).

    Prachanda will be accompanied by a large delegation including officials from Nepal’s foreign, energy, trade and infrastructure ministries. He is expected to visit Mumbai too, but will arrive in Delhi first where he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval among others. He will also be having interactions with the business community, say sources.

    While a joint communique would be issued at the end of the visit, the draft prepared for the visit by the Nepalese government includes increasing two-way air traffic, inter-country digital payment with India for Nepali companies, trilateral electricity trade with Bangladesh, a power purchase agreement between India and Nepal for 25 years, Lower Arun and Phukot Karnali hydropower development project and Amlekhgunj Lothar and Siliguri-Jhapa petroleum pipeline construction agreement.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    ALSO READ | Is hydropower the key to propel India-Nepal ties to a new high?

    “More than half a dozen agreements and memoranda of understanding are likely to be signed and announced. The agreements will likely include subscribing to a digital payment mode that would ease cross-border payments using e-wallet and building of bridges in Chandani-Dodhara and the Jhulaghat areas across the Mahakali River in Kanchanpur and Darchula districts respectively,” said a source.

    Nepal is also likely to put in a request to extend an India-funded petroleum pipeline inside Nepali territory. There could be an agreement on a new petroleum pipeline to be constructed from Siliguri to Jhapa and storage facilities and extension of present Motihari-Amlekhgunj petroleum pipeline to Lothar, Chitwan.

    Biratnagar-Bathnaha (India) railway line is said to be nearing completion and a formal announcement about it is expected to be made during the visit. Besides, there is a possibility of India sharing a project report of the Kathmandu-Raxaul railway line.

    Nepal is also seeking to expand connectivity with India by air and is looking at India to fly into Bhairahawa airport in Lumbini.

    Meanwhile, Nepal is also likely to seek a resolution of the boundary issue.

  • India, Nepal vow to further expand bilateral ties

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba on Saturday inaugurated a cross-border railway network, a power transmission line and launched India’s RuPay payment card in Nepal after they held wide-ranging talks.

    The two sides also inked four pacts to expand cooperation in areas of railways and energy while vowing to further broad-base cooperation in a range of areas.

    In his media statement, Modi said the friendly ties between India and Nepal are unique and such a relationship is not seen anywhere else in the world.

    He said India has been and will continue to remain a firm companion in Nepal’s journey for peace, prosperity and development.

    Modi said the joint vision statement between the two sides on power cooperation will prove to be a blueprint for future cooperation in the sector.

    It was agreed on the greater participation of Indian companies in Nepal’s hydropower development plans, he said.

    Deuba on his part said Nepal’s relations with India is “highly important.

    The Nepalese prime minister, accompanied by a high-level delegation, arrived in New Delhi on Friday on a three-day visit.

    It is Deuba’s first bilateral visit abroad after becoming prime minister in July last year for a fifth time following a spell of political turmoil in Kathmandu.

    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.