Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba are expected to hold a virtual summit in early March. The key outcomes of the summit will be a pact on delivery of fertilizers to Nepal and giving go-ahead to railway service between Kurtha-Jayanagar.
The test runs for the railway service between India’s Jayanagar to Nepal’s Kurtha has already been conducted. Indian Railway’s Konkan railway cooperation is helping Nepal railways in the establishment of the service that will help people from both sides of the border. Meanwhile, under the 5-year fertilizer pact, Nepal aims to fulfill 30% of its annual fertilizer requirement. The talks for the pact have been going on for a long time.
Both the Prime Ministers had met on the sidelines of the Glasgow climate summit last year. That was the first in-person meet between the two sides after Deuba took charge as Nepal PM in July of that year. During that meeting, Nepal had sought fertilizers, covid vaccines from India. Another key focus was the opening of new air routes connecting the two countries. Nepal PM was expected to visit India earlier this year for the Vibrant Gujarat Investor summit but that could not happen due to Omicron covid crisis.
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Ties between India and Nepal were frayed under the previous Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli who had come out with a new map of Nepal irking New Delhi. With the change of guard in Kathmandu, both sides are working to improve ties. Nepal’s new foreign minister Dr.Narayan Khadka and EAM Jaishankar had met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York a few months ago.
Meanwhile, Nepal’s Parliament on Sunday ratified the $500 million American grant under Millennium Challenge Cooperation (MCC) compact. In a show of remarkable display of political acumen, PM Deuba was able to keep his ruling coalition intact while also able to fulfill the February 28 deadline given to Washington for ratification of MCC. Projects under the compact include transmission lines between Nepal and India. It is also expected to boost India’s energy connectivity initiatives and Nepal’s efforts to develop its hydropower sector for exports.
Earlier this month, PM Modi had held a virtual summit with his UAE counterpart. During that summit the much-awaited India UAE free trade agreement was signed. In January, PM Modi had virtually participated in the first India-Central Asia summit, involving leaders of all five central Asian countries.