KATHMANDU, MARCH 28

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is leaving for an official visit to India on April 1 at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Deuba will be accompanied by his spouse Arzu Rana Deuba.

This will be the first bilateral visit abroad by Deuba after assuming the PM's office in July.

According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deuba's entourage will comprise Minister of Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka, other senior ministers, secretaries, and officials of the Government of Nepal.

India's neighbourhood first policy attaches high priority to its neighbouring countries and any high-level visit from Nepal is significant for India

• Nihar Nayak Research Fellow at Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies

The visit will further strengthen the multifaceted, age-old, and cordial ties between Nepal and India, MoFA stated in its release.

During the visit, Deuba is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on India's Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.

Deuba will hold delegation-level talks with Modi at Hyderabad House on April 2.

Modi will host a luncheon in honour of Deuba and the Nepali delegation.

Similarly, India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, as well as National Security Adviser Ajit Doval will call on Deuba.

The PM will use the opportunity of his visit to address a gathering of business leaders in New Delhi.

The PM is also scheduled to visit Varanasi before returning to Kathmandu on April 3.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs issued a press release saying that Deuba's visit will provide an opportunity to the two sides to review this wide-ranging cooperative partnership and to strengthen it for the benefit of the two peoples.

India's MEA said in its release, 'India and Nepal enjoy age-old and special ties of friendship and cooperation. In recent years, the partnership has witnessed significant growth in all areas of cooperation.'

Foreign policy expert Dinesh Bhattarai said Deuba's visit would be a continuation of exchange of high-level visits between Nepal and India.

'Such visits are important to know each other's concerns and to promote understanding between the two countries,' he added.

Research Fellow at New Delhi-based Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses Nihar Nayak said over phone from New Delhi that India attached high significance to the high-level visit by Deuba. He said physical connectivity and investment between the two countries could be discussed during the visit.

'India's neighbourhood first policy attaches high priority to its neighbouring countries and any high-level visit from Nepal is significant for India,' he said. He added that Nepal and India shared unique bilateral relations with extensive cultural and people-to-people ties between the two countries. Nayak said Nepal PM's visit was taking place after a gap of four years mainly due to the COVID pandemic and some other issues.

'Now India could also announce a high-level return visit to Nepal,' he added.

A version of this article appears in the print on March 29, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.