Nepal Prime Minister to visit India on April 1

Sher Bahadur Deuba's India visit would take place immediately after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi concludes his three-day visit to Nepal, from March 25-27.

The Kathmandu Post, quoting diplomatic sources, reported that PM Deuba has already received and accepted the invitation extended by Narendra Modi to visit India.

Deuba will participate virtually in the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) summit on March 30.

Nepalese Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka will travel to Colombo instead to participate in the summit, the daily said.

PM Deuba will travel to Delhi on April 1, hold talks with Modi and other Indian politicians on April 2 and return to Kathmandu on April 3.

This will be Deuba's first official visit since his appointment as prime minister in July last year.

According to reports, he was scheduled to travel to India in January to participate in the Vibrant Gujarat summit in Gandhinagar, but the trip was cancelled due to rising Covid-19 cases.

Deuba and Modi had earlier met in Glasgow, Scotland in November last year on the sidelines of the UN climate conference.

Sewa Lamsal, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, said that high-level visits from both sides (Nepal and India) are on the cards.

Officials said some agreements between Nepal and India, including on cross-border railway, which have been on the table for a while, are likely.

The Kurtha-Jayanagar railway is on a dry run since the second week of February for the lack of a law to guide the operations.

The government, however, on Tuesday reissued the railway ordinance for the operation of the cross-border shuttle.

Prime Ministers of the two neighbouring countries are likely to inaugurate the Kurtha-Jayanagar railway.

In October last year, India had handed over the 34.9 km long cross-border rail link to the Nepal government, that connects Jayanagar in Bihar to Kurtha in Nepal. The rail link is expected to enhance trade and commerce activities and people to people linkages between the two countries.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on rebuilding around 137 health posts with Indian financial assistance that Delhi had announced in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquakes is also likely, according to officials.

Deuba's visit to India will be the first by a Nepali prime minister in almost four years. The then prime minister KP Oli had visited New Delhi in April 2018, two months after assuming his office.