Nepal is “fundamental” to India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy, foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Friday, stressing that India’s development and modernization are linked to those of Nepal and other nations in its neighbourhood.
India sees itself as “Nepal’s foremost friend and development partner” with the developmental experiences that New Delhi shares with Kathmandu being those that have “proved successful and beneficial” in India’s own case, Shringla said in a speech at the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs (AIDIA) in Kathmandu.
Shringla’s statements came on the second and final day of his visit to Nepal, seen as one aimed at setting ties back on track after a row over a map brought out by Nepal that showed three regions that are part of India as lying within Nepal’s boundaries. The approval of the map by Nepal’s parliament, despite India’s protests, had soured ties between the two countries.
“I have been left with no doubt that our countries are on the same page and share the same vision,” Shringla said after meetings with Nepal’s president Bidya Devi Bhandari, prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli, foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, and foreign secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal, indicating that misunderstandings in the relationship between the two nations have been ironed out.
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