KATHMANDU: Visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said India’s relationship with Nepal rests on four pillars – development cooperation, stronger connectivity, expanded infrastructure and economic projects and easier and enhanced access to educational opportunities in India for the young people of Nepal.
Speaking at a meeting organized at Soaltee Crowne Plaza in Kathmandu on Friday, Indian Secretary Shringla said the Indian government is always working to the priorities of Nepal.
Shringla further said the structure that the pillars hold up is also well-defined and unchanging – mutually beneficial people-to-people relations.
“India sees itself as Nepal’s foremost friend and development partner. Developmental experiences that we share with you are developmental experiences that have proved successful and beneficial in our own country,” he stated during his speech.
He went on to say that the Nepal-India relationship is intricate and exists in various paradigms as we share the same geography, civilizational heritage, culture and customs.
Recalling the words by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit here two years ago, Shringla said, “India’s relations with Nepal are familial and friendly, which stand on the strong foundations of mutual and deep relationships between its people, which are much above the relationship between the two governments.”
India’s development and modernization are incomplete and intrinsically and symbiotically linked to the development and modernization of neighbouring countries such as Nepal, added Shringla, said he.
The webinar meeting was organized by the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs (AIDIA).
Shringla who arrived here in Kathmandu on Thursday morning held a Nepal-India secretary level meeting with his Nepali counterpart Bharat Raj Paudyal at Hotel Yak and Yeti immediately after he landed in the capital.
He also held meetings here in Kathmandu, with high dignitaries including President Bidhya Bhandari, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali yesterday.
Shringla will return home wrapping up his two-day visit to Nepal today itself.
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Address by Foreign Secretary at AIDIA Distinguished Lecture
November 27, 2020