Indian Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar will visit Nepal on Thursday to participate in the foreign minister level Nepal-India Joint Commission meeting.
The two countries would discuss implementation of deals signed during the last India visit of Prime Minister (PM) Pushpa Kamal Dahal, according to sources at the Foreign Ministry.
“The agenda of visit has almost been prepared. It has to be finalized after sitting with the PM once,” a Foreign Ministry source said. “All the agendas would be discussed as it is a joint commission meeting. But we will stress on power trade agreement.”
The source also revealed that the limit for Indian assistance to High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDP), earlier known as small development projects, will be increased to Rs 200 million from Rs 50 million.
Nepal is also preparing to raise the issue of permission for international aviation routes through Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj and Bhairahawa.
The Indian side, on the other hand, is preparing to discuss whether the Arun III project, stuck due to compensation disputes, can be completed by 2025 as scheduled or not. The southern neighbor is also likely to urge Nepal to allow it to develop the Tamor Hydropower Project.
The two sides, however, have yet to agree on the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Pancheshwore Multi-purpose Project prepared by India, according to an Energy Ministry official.
Foreign Minister NP Saud met PM Dahal even on Tuesday to discuss the agendas about joint commission meeting.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the southern neighbor would buy 10,000 MW of electricity in 10 years from Nepal under the long-term power trade agreement during the India visit of PM Dahal from May 31 to June 3, 2023. The Indian Cabinet on September 4 had formalized the announcement.
The two sides had also signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) for Phukot Karnali and Lower Arun projects while the Gorakhpur-Bhairahawa 400 KV Transmission Line was also inaugurated during Dahal’s visit.
PM Dahal’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Rupak Sapkota has told Setopati that the Nepali side has been preparing to sign deals as per the modality of exporting 10000 MW to India within 10 years as everyone has given importance to that. “Discussion will be held about implementation of deals signed during PM Dahal’s India visit. The discussion will also be focused on the complexities and addressing those complexities,” he has added.
He has revealed that preparations have been made for agreement about exporting both the electricity generated by projects with Indian investment and the electricity generated by Nepal.
The sixth Nepal-India Joint Commission meeting was held in New Delhi in January 2021. The seventh is being held in Nepal on request of Nepal.
Jaishankar is also scheduled to meet President Ram Chandra Paudel, PM Dahal, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli during his two-day visit.
