Jaishankar to visit Nepal in January 2024

Kathmandu, Dec 20 (IANS) External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will embark on a visit to Kathmandu on January 4-5, 2024 to attend the seventh meeting of the India-Nepal Joint Commission.

Jaishankar, who is visiting the Himalayan nation at the invitation of his Nepalese counterpart N.P. Saud, will take part in the highest bilateral mechanism between the two neighbouring countries to review and smoothen Nepal-India toes.

"The visit is almost confirmed. We have already started groundwork for the visit," Saud told IANS on Wednesday.

Few MoUs are likely be signed during the visit as both sides prepare for the meeting taking place after a hiatus of nearly three years.

"Not certain yet but we are preparing to reach some agreements during the visit," Saud told IANS.

According to the Foreign Minister, discussions are underway between various ministries to finalise the meeting’s agenda and he has also sought a schedule of the visit and status of the India-funded projects in Nepal.

According to a Nepal government official, Jaishankar will land in Kathmandu on January 4, will lead the Indian delegation at the Joint Commission meet and hold talks with top party leaders, including President Ram Chandra Poudel and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, among others.

During the visit, an agreement on exporting 10,000 megawatts of energy to India from Nepal will be signed, government officials said.

Meanwhile, deals related to digital payments are also in cards.

Jaishankar will also inaugurate the new central library built by Indian assistance at Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu.

During a recent media interaction, Prime Minister Dahal revealed that the deal to export 10,000MW electricity to India within 10 years will be signed during Jaishankar’s visit

In the previous Joint Commission meeting that took place in New Delhi in January 2021, the two sides had reviewed the entire spectrum of bilateral relations including the supply of Covid-19 vaccine, boundary and border management, connectivity and economic cooperation, trade and transit, power and water resources, as well as culture and education.

The Joint Commission was constituted during the Nepal visit of then Indian Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar in February 1991.