Kathmandu, April 17 

Foreign ministries of Nepal and the Russian Federation held bilateral consultations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here this afternoon.

Head of Europe America Division at the MoFA Ghanshyam Bhandari and Director of the Second Department for Asia at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zamir Kabulov led their respective delegations in the consultations.

During the consultations, the overall state of bilateral relations between Nepal and the Russian Federation was reviewed. The two sides particularly focused on the need for enhancing cooperation in areas of trade, investment, tourism, and educational, cultural and technical cooperation, among others, according to a MoFA statement. The Russian delegation included Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Nepal Andrei S Budnik and other officials of the embassy. The Nepali delegation included officials from MoFA; Ministry of Home Affairs; Ministry of Defence; Ministry of Education, Science and Technology; and Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation.

Following the consultations, Kabulov held a meeting with Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi at the latter’s office.

A memorandum of understanding on establishing the mechanism on bilateral consultations between the two countries was signed in 1995.