KATHMANDU: External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar has arrived in Kathmandu to attend the Fifth Meeting of the Nepal-India Joint Commission beginning this afternoon in Kathmandu.

Jaishankar is also scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister KP Oli this afternoon prior to the Nepal-India Joint Commission meeting, which begins at 3 pm at Hotel Yak and Yeti at Durbar Marg.

The two-day meeting will focus on bilateral relations, trade, and transit, economic cooperation, energy, water resources, culture, and education, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

Nepal’s Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi and Nepal’s Ambassador to India Nilamber Acharya welcomed him at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) today.

The Indian External Minister will also pay a courtesy call on President Bidya Devi Bhandari tomorrow at 10:30 am.

Jaishankar is arriving in Kathmandu for the first time after being appointed as India’s Minister for External Affairs under the Narendra Modi-led government.

According to MoFA, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali and India’s External Minister Jaishankar will co-chair the meeting.

The meeting will discuss and review the overall state of Nepal-India relations as well as other areas of cooperation including trade and transit, connectivity and economic partnership, water resources, education, culture, and other issues of mutual interest.

Established in 1987, the Nepal-India Joint Commission holds its meetings alternately in Nepal and India. The previous meeting was held in New Delhi on October 2016.

Jaishankar is scheduled to return to New Delhi on Thursday.