India happy with Oli’s first visit to the southern neighbor

KATHMANDU, Feb 18: Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae has said that India is very happy that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has chosen India for his first official foreign visit since his election as the prime minister of Nepal.

"We are happy that he has chosen India as his first destination for a foreign visit," Rae said at Reporters' Club in Kathmandu on Wednesday.


His statement comes two days before Oli is set to embark on a six-day India visit.

Prime Minister Oli had earlier publicly announced that he would not visit India as long as the blockade was in place, fueling assumptions in some quarters that he may choose to visit China first.

The prime minister chose to visit India after India lifted the unofficial blockade, imposed for around five months, and eased supply of fuels and other essential goods to Nepal.

After UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal visited China after becoming the prime minister in 2009, it was widely regarded as a move to irk India.

During the interaction, Rae said that Oli's visit has basically four major aspects. The official talks to be held in New Delhi at the top political levels are the major aspect of the visit.

Rae said as the visit is taking place at a time when earthquake victims are in a dire need of support, a major agenda item of the visit is to prepare a concrete plan on utilizing the support of US$ 1 billion that India had announced to provide Nepal for carrying out the reconstruction and rehabilitation tasks.

The prime minister is scheduled to visit Gujarat, the hometown of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to observe the progress made by the city since hit by a massive earthquake in 2001.

"In Gujarat, the prime minister [Oli] will see how the concept of build back better is implemented in practice," said Rae.

He said they have planned a trip to Tehri Dam in Uttarakhand so that the prime minister could observe how big hydro projects can be developed.

Third, Oli will also visit Mumbai, Indian's financial capital and interact with top industrialists with a view to attract them to invest in Nepal.

He said that though the bilateral relations witnessed some ups and downs and was soured in the recent months, it wouldn't harm in the long term.

"The visit sends a very strong message in terms of strengthening cooperation in economic front, development and reconstruction in addition to the talks to be held at the political level," said Rae. "If we see our relations on longer terms, the fundamental trend of the bilateral relations is very positive," said Rae.

Former foreign minister and ambassador to India Bhekh Bahadur Thapa in the same interaction expressed hope that the prime minister's visit will help dispel mistrust that grew between the two sides in the recent months.

UML Lawmaker Rajan Bhattarai, who is also a member of the visiting team, said both the sides will work to identify the reasons that caused the misunderstandings and remove them.

He said the visit's focus this time would be in creating an environment to implement the past agreements reached in the past and lay the groundwork for attracting foreign investments.

Dinesh Bhattarai, who served as a foreign affairs advisor to former prime minister late Sushil Koirala, suggested the visiting team to take initiatives to end the situation of trust deficit. "This visit should focus on trust building, implementing past agreements, and portray infrastructure and connectivity as areas of priority," said Bhattarai.

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