'The aim of my visit to India as the first president of Nepal is to promote our national interest, to further bilateral relations and to seek cooperation for our peace process,' said Dr Ram Baran Yadav.
President Dr Ram Baran Yadav today asked India to help Nepal successfully conclude the landmark peace process and assist it bring about economic prosperity in the country, as he prepares for a crucial visit to New Delhi next week.
"The aim of my visit to India as the first president of Nepal is to promote our national interest, to further bilateral relations and to seek cooperation for our peace process and economic development," Yadav told PTI ahead of his maiden 4-day official tour from February 15.
Yadav, a Nepali Congress party's popular leader from the Madhesi community living in the Terai plains bordering India, was chosen as the country's first president when the 601-member Constituent Assembly abolished the monarchy in May 2008.
India and Nepal share a unique relationship of friendship and cooperation characterised by an open border and deep-rooted people-to-people contacts based on shared history, culture, religion and languages.
62-year-old India-educated president said his visit is aimed at seeking New Delhi's help and goodwill for concluding the peace process in a positive manner and to draft the constitution on time as well as to receive India's continuous assistance for attaining economic prosperity in the country.
Praising India's role in his country, he said it has always taken the side of the people in every important event in our history.
"India has always taken the side of the people in every important events in our history, be it the democratic revolution of 1950 or People's Movements of 1990 and 2006," he underlined in an interview.
Yadav said Nepal wants India's "continued cooperation and support for its democratisation process and development endeavours".
President Yadav, who spent around 14 years in India, mostly in Kolkata, and Chandigarh, while studying medicine, has been inspired by great Indian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jayprakash Narayan.
Yadav expected India, which has "more than 60 years of democratic history" to provide the "inspiration for consolidating democracy" in Nepal.
"India being a big democratic country, having more than 60 years of democratic history, should provide inspiration for consolidating democracy in the country," said Yadav, who received his MBBS degree from Calcutta Medical College in 1968 and MD in General Medicine from PGI-MER Chandigarh.
With regard to its relationship with its other giant neighbour China, Yadav said Nepal was for "friendly relations with both of them" as both are "the emerging economies of the world".
"India and China both are the emerging economies of the world and we want to further our friendly relations with both of them," he said in an exclusive interview at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
However, he underlined the special relationship with India due deep-rooted people-to-people contacts.
"We will expand cooperation and further bilateral relations especially with India with which we have very close ties due to cultural, geographical, social and religious proximities," pointed out Yadav, who practiced medicine in Kolkata for three years in the 1970s.
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