PM Oli returns from India visit

Kathmandu, February 24

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli today returned home after his six-day India visit, which, according to him, was ‘successful’ in clearing the misunderstanding between the two countries.

The PM landed at Tribhuvan International Airport this evening from Mumbai, where he interacted with Indian investors and entrepreneurs and urged them to invest in Nepal’s energy and infrastructure sectors.

However, Nepal and India failed to issue a joint communiqué, which is normally issued after the completion of such a high-level formal visit.

Responding to a query in Mumbai, before leaving for Kathmandu, Oli said visit’s achievement couldn’t be discounted just because a joint communiqué was not issued.

An official accompanying PM Oli to India told The Himalayan Times that the joint communiqué couldn’t be issued primarily due to differences on Nepal’s new constitution.

The official added that Indian side wanted to say the charter was a ‘major achievement’ along with a phrase that outstanding issues needed to be resolved through dialogue and consensus. But the Nepali side was adamant that such welcome should be clear and without any condition and prescription.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Tara Prasad Pokhrel, however, said there was precedent in India where a joint communiqué was not issued after a high-level visit, when the visiting and the host leader had addressed a joint-press briefing.

Earlier today in Mumbai, the PM also held an interaction with Bollywood artists and movie stars, including Govinda, Udit Narayan Jha, Tabu, Gulshan Grover, Jitendra and Shakti Kapur earlier today. The function was held at the initiative of Manish Koirala to promote culture and tourism between the two countries.

While addressing them, the PM urged Bollywood film stars to travel to Nepal to shoot movies as there was no death of beautiful places in the Himalayan nation.

Offers condolences to crash victims' kin

KATHMANDU: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli expressed condolences to the families of the passengers and crew members who died in the Tara Air plane crash in Myagdi on Wednesday. According to a press release issued by Prime Minister’s Press Coordinator Chetan Adhikari, the PM expressed his commitment to form a high-level probe committee to investigate into the air disaster. The PM talked to Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Ananda Prasad Pokharel over phone from Mumbai and directed him to do the needful to hand over the bodies of the passengers and crew members to their families. In the morning, the PM was in Mumbai for the last leg of his India visit. The PM also asked all three security agencies and stakeholders to assist in the rescue work, according to the release.