The first high-level meeting between India and Nepal took place on Monday after the map dispute. Various projects were reviewed in the eighth meeting of the mechanism set up to monitor the development projects underway with the help of India in Nepal. During this time no disputed issue was discussed. The second round of diplomatic level meeting to be held in late August or September will discuss contentious issues. Foreign ministers of both countries can attend the meeting. However, its final outline is yet to be decided.The Corona transition led to a virtual meeting between Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Quatra and Nepal’s Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi. It reviewed bilateral economic and development projects. Both sides reviewed the progress made in the development projects in a year. These include the reconstruction of 46,301 houses destroyed by earthquakes in Gorkha and Nuakot districts.
Indeed, India and Nepal have already decided that discussions on contentious issues will be held at the top diplomatic level. Especially for the border dispute, there has already been agreement in both the countries about foreign minister level talks.Thanking India for helping deal with Corona at the meeting of the monitoring mechanism held for the first time after July 8 last year, Nepal expressed its gratitude for the cooperation from India in dealing with Corona. According to the Nepalese Ministry of External Affairs, the two sides held talks on Terai Road, Cross-border Railway Project, Arun-3 Hydro Power Project and Petroleum Pipeline. This monitoring mechanism was formed in 2016.In two-three months, Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had bitterly dissolved bilateral relations with his statements. The first priority was to initiate dialogue between the two countries by holding controversial issues such as the new map, firing on the border, birthplace of Lord Ram and Gautam Buddha. Due to this, India agreed to postpone the controversial issues till the second round of meetings.
At the same time, the PM of Nepal is isolating himself from his party. In such a situation, India is waiting for the conclusion of the ruling party to reach its result before taking tough measures.India will continue to help in the fight against Coronavirus. Quatra handed over 23 tonnes of medicines including HCQ and Paracetamol to Nepal as soon as appointed ambassador to Nepal on 23 April. Apart from this, on 13 May, 30 thousand test kits were handed over to Nepal on 10 August, 10 ventilators. With this, the Nepalese army was given a financial aid of Rs 2.8 crore.
Abhishek Kumar@samacharline