Sunday 10 January 2021

Lalitpur: The Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Nepal have started preparations after Foreign Minister Pradip Gyawali decided to pay an official visit to India. Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not announced the date of his visit to India, Minister Gyawali is preparing to visit India on January 20.

Minister Gyawali is going to attend the meeting of the Nepal-India Joint Commission. The meeting will be co-chaired by the Foreign Ministers of the two countries. The meeting of the commission will discuss the projects of cooperation between the two countries.

Although Prime Minister KP Oli has announced that Minister Gyawali is going to India to discuss the border dispute, no agenda has been set to discuss the issue. According to embassy sources, Minister Gyawali himself inquired about the matter and India would take it only as information.

India has been saying that Nepal is not prepared to discuss the border dispute. An Indian embassy official said, “Nepal has no preparations. What kind of discussion takes place without preparation? Therefore, India has not set any agenda to negotiate on the border dispute. If Minister Gyawali spoke during the discussion, it is a different matter. But India is not prepared to discuss the agenda. ‘

Nepal had published a new political map covering the encroached lands of Kalapani, Lipulek and Limpiyadhura. For that, the constitution has been amended. India is irritated by this. India has sought a guarantee that Nepal will amend the constitution again if there is any consensus through talks. On the positive side, India is ready to hold talks with Nepal. India has already paid a high-level visit. In this connection, Minister Gyawali’s visit is about to take place. After the visit of Minister Gyawali, preparations are being made for the visit of Prime Minister Oli. During his visit to India, there is a possibility of talks on the border.

Minister Gyawali will discuss the current political changes in Nepal with the Indian side. Sources claim that there will be special talk on how to settle Nepal’s politics.