The government has brought forth clarity on the joint statement issued during the State visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to India, reasoning that some media have reported the news by misinterpreting some points.

Issuing a press release on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs referring to 'point no 11' of the joint statement said that the cooperation between the countries in the international organization including the UN on major international issues of common concern is the internationally established tradition. "Nepal, as in the past, has been forging collaboration and coordination with various countries, including neighbours India and China, on the issues of common interest and the issues that affect the less developing countries," adds the release.

Similarly, the matter about Nepal supporting India on its bid to get the permanent membership of the UN Security Council is not new. "Even 'point no 6' of the joint statement issued during the third meeting of Nepal-India Joint Commission by then Minister for Foreign Affairs Mahendra Bahadur Pande and Minister for External Affair of India, Sushma Swaraj mentioned the same issue," reiterated the Ministry.

As mentioned in the point no 13 of the joint statement, Prime Ministers from both Nepal and India directed the concerned officials to clear the obstruction on the bilateral economic and development projects and accelerate activities for the timely completion. Agreement was made on the formation of a monitoring mechanism comprising high level officials from Nepal and from the Indian Embassy in Nepal.

"Hence, the news that have come by distorting these facts are baseless rumours," stressed the Ministry. RSS