KATHMANDU: Prime Ministers of Nepal and India on Sunday held a bilateral meeting and agreed to implement agreements reached in the past in order to strengthen the relationships.

PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi held the meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit in Goa of India and stressed that all the agreements finalised earlier should be implemented.

The Prime Ministers had noted that a joint commission meeting would further discuss all matters of bilateral relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed after the meeting.

Likewise, they also agreed to form a joint oversight mechanism consisting of officials of both governments as envisaged in an earlier joint statement, according to the Ministry.

The two neighbours had agreed to form such mechanism during PM Dahal's state visit to India in mid-September, in order to "review progress together with respective project implementing agencies/developers of ongoing economic and development projects on a regular basis, and take necessary steps to expedite their implementation."

Meanwhile, the two leaders also discussed the forthcoming visit of Indian President Pranab Mukherjee to Nepal. The Indian head of the state is scheduled to visit Nepal in early November.

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India clarifies on "trilateral meeting"

Meanwhile, India clarified that the so-called "trilateral meeting" among Dahal, Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping was coincidental.

Spokesperson of Indian Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup told a press conference in Goa on Sunday that it was entirely a coincidental meeting.

When asked if it was a spontaneous meeting, Swarup said he asked  Prime Minister Modi about the meeting and learnt from him that Modi happened to be in that leaders’ room where Xi and Dahal were also waiting.

He said it was not a trilateral meeting, but such a meeting was natural in such events.

Swarup said the meeting took place when Dahal, Modi and Xi were all waiting to be escorted to a hotel for informal dinner.

“I do not know on what basis people are calling it a trilateral meeting. It is perfectly normal for leaders to be together in a lounge or sidelines or somewhere else.  You do not need to read too much meaning into that. And as I have said, we have excellent relations with China and Nepal,” Swarup added.