KATHMANDU: Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has arrived on a two-day visit to Nepal.

Foreign Secretary Shringla landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) at 10:40 am.

Talking to Khabarhub upon his arrival at the airport, Shringla said, ” It is honored to be here in Nepal. I wanted to come here earlier but because of COVID-19 I could not do so. I am happy to be here in Kathmandu.” He further said, “We have a very strong bilateral relationship. Our endeavor would be to take our relationships forward.”

Foreign Secretary Shringla went to The Dwarika’s Hotel straight from the airport. He will go to Hotel Yak and Yeti where he will hold delegation-level talks with his Nepali counterpart, Bharat Raj Poudyal, during which they will discuss wide-ranging areas of cooperation between Nepal and India.

Following the foreign secretary level meeting at Hotel Yak and Yeti, he is scheduled to go to Singha Durbar to hold a meeting with Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali.

Shringla is scheduled to call on Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and President Bidhya Bhandari among others this evening.

He is scheudled to visit Gorkha tomorrow to inaugurate a school building built by Indian Embassy. This is the first visit of the Foreign Secretary to Nepal since he assumed the charge.

The visit is in keeping with the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two neighbors and the priority India attaches to its relations with Nepal, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in its statement.

Shringla’s visit comes after two back-to-back high-level visits from new Delhi by Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane (November) and Research and Analysis Wing head Samant Goel (October).

Shringla will return home after wrapping up his two-day official visit to Nepal on Friday.