KATHMANDU: Minister of Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia Marise Payne held a telephone conversation on Monday.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Australian foreign minister Payne expressed appreciation to the Nepal government for facilitating repatriation of Australian tourists stranded in Nepal after the suspension of all international flights followed by nationwide lockdown to curb Covid-19 spread.

During the conversation, as per the ministry's statement, foreign minister Gyawali requested for the welfare and safety of Nepali nationals, in particulalr Nepali students in Australia in context of the impact of the global pandemic.

The counterparts also discussed about potential arrangement for direct flight of Nepal Airlines to Australia and noted that the recent chartered flight provided an opportunity to assess the technical feasibility for future commercial flights.

Nepal and Australia celebrate the 60th year of establishment of diplomatic relations this year.

According to the statement, the two foreign minister also talked about their proposed meeting some time in the near futurea the ways to provide further impetus to the excellent state of bilateral relations between the two countries.