Bhutan PM meets Nepali counterpart

KATHMANDU: Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigme Y Thinley, who is on a one-day visit to Nepal to attend the 13th day ritual of late Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala, held bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal in the latter's office today.

Stating that Nepal had lost a guardian of Nepal's democratic movement and the SAARC a top leader with the demise of Koirala, Thinley extended a message of condolence to the government and the people of Nepal on his own and Bhutanese people's behalf.

The PM took up the contentious issue of Bhutanese refugees living here with Thinley and sought full support of his government to send them back home. "It is the birth right of the Butanese refugees to get repatriated respectfully as the third country settlement is not a solution to the crisis," Rajan Bhattarai, Foreign Relations Advisor to the PM, quoted him telling his Bhutanese counterpart.

In reply, Bhutanese PM said more bilateral talks were needed to amicably redress the refugees' woes. The two prime ministers also held discussion on upcoming SAARC Summit scheduled to take place in Bhutan. "Bhutan is concerned about the refugee crisis and is ready to hold a chain of talks with Nepal in association with world community, though third country settlement process is underway," Thinley said. They agreed that the SAARC countries were required to give top priority to the burning issue of climate change in a united way during the summit. Thinley returned home later in the evening.

Meanwhile, Tamrat Samuel, Director, Asia-Pacific Division of the UN's Department of Political Affairs held talks with Nepal on the progress made in the ongoing peace process and the extension of UNMIN's tenure. During the meet, the PM told him that the government was yet to reach a decision whether to extend the tenure of the UNMIN, as it was inching closer to take the peace process to the logical end and promulgate new constitution by May 28.