New Delhi: Army Chief General MM Naravane’s three-day crucial visit to Nepal beginning 4 November is expected to have a significant diplomatic overtone with India looking at resetting relations with Nepal after the ties came under severe strain following a bitter border row, officials said.
The Chief of Army Staff is scheduled to hold extensive talks with the top civilian and military brass of Nepal, including his counterpart General Purna Chandra Thapa, on a range of key issues such as further boosting the management of the nearly 1,800 km-long border between the two countries.
“The Chief of Army Staff is scheduled to visit Nepal from 4 to 6 November with an aim to strengthen overall ties including in areas of defense and security,” a highly-placed government source told PTI.
In continuation of an age-old tradition that started in 1950, General Naravane will be conferred with the honorary rank of ‘General of the Nepal Army’ by President Bidya Devi Bhandari at an event in Kathmandu. India also confers the honorary rank of ‘General of Indian Army’ to the Nepal Army Chief.
It will be the first high-level visit from India to Kathmandu since the ties between the two neighbours came under strain after Nepal published new map including Lipudhura.
India’s decision to send the Army Chief to Nepal to reset the ties is seen as part of a larger exercise by New Delhi to rejuvenate relations with Myanmar, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Afghanistan in wake of the greater efforts by China to expand its influence in the region,
Nepal is important for India in the context of its overall strategic interests in the region, and leaders of the two countries have often noted the age-old “Roti-Beti” relationship.
(with inputs from Agencies)
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