Promulgation of new statute consolidated multiparty democracy in Nepal: India

Kathmandu, June 29

India for the first time said ‘multiparty-democracy was consolidated’ in Nepal with the promulgation of the new constitution in September last year.

In its report on diplomatic achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two years in office, the Ministry of External Affairs of India said: “Multiparty constitutional democracy in Nepal was consolidated with the adoption of their new constitution in September 2015, which established Nepal as a Federal Democratic Republic.”

The report entitled “Mapping New Frontiers: Two Years of Pathbreaking Diplomacy” also stated that some internal issues still remained to be addressed, but hoped that they too would be successfully resolved before long.

The 84-page report, dated June 22, has documented India’s foreign policy achievements since PM Modi assumed office in May 2014. India had so far refrained from welcoming the new charter of Nepal, stating that some outstanding issues had yet to be resolved to address the aspirations of Nepali society.

A foreign ministry official said the report reflected New Delhi’s ‘more positive tone’ towards the statute.

The MEA, in its report, has also said that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s visit to India in February 2016 “set the stage for a new phase in India-Nepal relations”. It also concluded PM Modi’s visit to Nepal was “a new chapter in India’s fraternal relations with Nepal.”

“India opened a new chapter in its fraternal relations with Nepal over the course of the last two years, with the first bilateral visit by an Indian PM after 17 years in August 2014, during which he also became the first foreign leader to address the Nepali Parliament,” it added.