Kathmandu, May 25

Nepal and Israel today set up a foreign secretary level bilateral consultative mechanism.

An agreement to this effect was inked between Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi and his Israeli counterpart in Tel Aviv during the Israel visit of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa today.

The mechanism aims to enhance bilateral cooperation by holding meetings of top diplomats of the two sides in each other’s countries every alternate year, Nepal’s Ambassador to Israel Pralhad Prasai told The Himalayan Times over phone from Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Thapa also met with Israeli President Riuven Rivlin at a football stadium

in Tel Aviv, where Israel’s State Cup was under way. Ambassador Prasai said the brief meeting between Thapa and Israeli president was arranged at the stadium due to the conflict of schedules.

Meanwhile, DPM Thapa also met with Israeli Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and reviewed the ‘existing excellent bilateral relations’ and delved into ways to enhance them further, according to Prasai.

Nepal was the first country in South Asia to establish diplomatic ties by recognising the State of Israel in 1960.