Thursday, July 16, 2009

Bilateral relations with Nepal



Lok Sabha 

India and Nepal share close and friendly political, economic, cultural and social ties, which are unique and have stood the test of time. We have congratulated Mr Madhav Nepal on his election as the Prime Minister of Nepal and have conveyed our commitment to further strengthen ties and to support Nepal in any manner and to the extent it wants us to. During the visit of Foreign Secretary to Nepal on June 20-21, 2009, our commitment was reiterated to the new government of Nepal. Both sides also agreed to take the bilateral relations forward. 

Recently, there have been some media reports in Nepal regarding alleged encroachment of Nepalese territory by India. These have been investigated into, and found to be false. Such incidents have been taken up with the Government of Nepal for necessary action. Strip maps pertaining to 96 % of the Nepal-India boundary have been jointly finalised and initialled. These are to be signed at plenipotentiary level. There are bilateral institutional mechanisms for effective border management, including at district level, to address such concerns. In addition to these, it has also been agreed to establish local level mechanisms during the recent visit of Foreign Secretary to Nepal. 

This information was given by Smt. Preneet Kaur, Minister of State for External Affairs in reply to a question by Shri Yogi Aditya Nath in Lok Sabha today.

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