Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is set to embark on his three-day maiden visit to India on Friday.
Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is set to embark on his three-day maiden visit to India on Friday.
The Nepal Prime minister will be accompanied by his wife Radhika Shakya and an entourage of ministers, Members of Parliament (MPs), secretaries and other high-ranking officials of the Nepal Government.
Prior to his visit in an interview with The Hindu, Oli said that the ‘bitterness of past relations, including over the 2015 economic blockade at the India-Nepal border, and growing ties with China, have been put behind them, and India and Nepal must work towards a new, more equal relationship.’
“In terms of our expectations from this visit, I want to make it clear. The starting point of our neighbourhood policy is friendship. If you say tell me three things Nepal needs from India, I would say, the first is friendship, the second is friendship and the third is also friendship. We have completed our political struggle, but now there is a new phase, of Nepal’s struggle for development and prosperity,” he added.
He also said that while the borders between the two nations are open, it does not mean that there will be a difference of opinion. “We are neighbours, if your child comes to my house repeatedly and rearranges my house, breaks something, how will you feel? Because we are neighbours, such things can happen. Our borders are open,” he added.
Oli has been vocal about India’s interference in the Nepalese government, which finally resulted in the dismissal of the Nepal ambassador to India before the government fell in 2016. “If such things (India interference) occur, then they must be corrected. We can’t say that everything is correct and all right. We cannot ignore and deny such facts. It is better to accept the problems between us, correct them and then not look behind.”
He also was critical in the delay of the Pancheshwar dam project. “When we signed the Pancheshwar agreement, I was a much younger man. In 22 years I have aged, but the project has not been completed,” he added.
Oli also said that he and PM Narendra Modi were similar in so many ways, but yet different. “We are both committed to fighting corruption, and to promoting development. Even when we had problems in our friendship during the blockade, I was not against India nor was he against Nepal. We both want to strengthen Nepal-India friendship too,” he added
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