New Delhi: On day two of his visit to Kathmandu, India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla on Friday inaugurated India-built projects and said that “Nepal occupies a special place in our hearts”.
Speaking at the inauguration of three schools in Gorkha district, he said, "Nepal occupies a special place in our hearts. We have been glad to able to assist in your reconstruction. Both India and Nepal have young populations, we value education. A good education is the best investment for the future and our people”.
The Gorkha district had suffered massively from the 2015 Nepal earthquake. Shringla lauded the courage and determination that has helped rebuild lives.
Pertinently, India is building 50,000 houses in the Gorkha and Nuwakot districts of Nepal, of which 46,000 have been built. Many houses in this area were damaged due to the 2015 Nepal earthquake.
Shringla also remotely inaugurated an India-funded project to renovate the Tashop (Tare) Gompa monastery in Manang District.
Earlier speaking at an event, Shringla highlighted the common "civilisational heritage, culture and customs" and "people-to-people linkages are so strong and so powerful that quite frankly we in government only complement these", he added.
He said "Nepal is fundamental to our 'Neighbourhood First' approach" and "India’s development and modernisation are incomplete and intrinsically and symbiotically linked to the development and modernisation of neighbouring countries such as Nepal."
Foreign Secretary Shringla who arrived in Nepal on Thursday for his two-day maiden visit held a bilateral talk with his Nepali counterpart Bharat Raj Paudyal.
During the talk, both the sides agreed in various steps to advance some of the areas of the cooperation and reviewed progress on commitments made by leadership and committed to looking at some other initiatives between the two nations.
“We had a very productive and useful exchange; we went through a very large number of issues of bilateral cooperation. It shows the multifaceted and comprehensive nature of our cooperation”, FS Harsh V Shringla told media on the first day of his visit.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Shringla also handed over COVID -19 medical aid to Foreign Minister of Nepal Pradeep Kumar Gyawali.
The Foreign Secretary also had called on Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli at the latter’s residence in Kathmandu.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, Shringla’s visit is in keeping with the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries and the priority India attaches to its relations with Nepal.
Earlier this month, Indian Army chief Gen MM Naravane travelled to Nepal on a three-day visit during which he held talks with Nepal’s top leadership and discussed bilateral relations.
This is the third high-level visit from India to Nepal amid the COVID pandemic.
Read: Nepal fundamental to India's neighbourhood first approach: Shringla
