Repairing ties with India and easing restrictions on imports at border points will be high on Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa’s agenda when he embarks on a three-day visit of India on Saturday.

DPM Thapa, the first high-level Nepali official to visit New Delhi after the promulgation of the new constitution last month, is scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj on Sunday and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

Accompanied by Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi, Joint Secretary Prakash Subedi and senior officials from the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, he will also be holding talks with senior Indian officials on Saturday.  

The visit will be focused on easing transit of Nepal-bound cargoes, including petroleum products, opening of the Raxaul-Birgunj customs point, preparing ground work for PM Oli’s visit to India. “Yes, there has been the bitterness of relation between us, but we expect to put it behind us soon,” Thapa said, while announcing the visit on Thursday. “I am looking forward to my meeting with Indian Minister External Affairs. We will discuss on easing supplies of fuel and other essentials from India,” said Thapa, adding that the new government is fully committed to address the grievances of the agitating Madhesi parties. The Madhes-based parties have been protesting for the past two months against the provision on demarcation in the new constitution, saying that it will leave them under-represented in the federal government.

As a result, thousands of Nepal-bound container trucks have been held up on the Indian side of the border. Nepal have blamed India, which is seen as sympathetic to the Madhesi cause, for the border blockade. But New Delhi denies the charges, arguing that the obstructions at border points were due to violent protests on the Nepali side.

While Thapa hopes to ease Kathmandu’s strained ties with New Delhi, analysts say the Oli-led government has its task cut out due to the neglect of the previous government.

“Instead of sympathy to the Nepali people grappling with fuel shortage, international media especially Indian newspapers have been putting blame on the poor security situation in the Nepali

territory,” said Nishchal N Pandey, director at the Centre for South Asian Studies. “Only a well-articulated and robust foreign policy can make amends to the Indo-Nepal relations as well as further relations with other countries.”