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Oli willing to visit India soon: MEA
Prime Minister KP Oli has expressed his willingness to visit India at the earliest and hold talks on improving bilateral ties.Devendra Bhattarai
Prime Minister KP Oli has expressed his willingness to visit India at the earliest and hold talks on improving bilateral ties.
During a press briefing at India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjeet Rae informed Oli’s interest to visit India.
He said that schedule for Oli’s visit would be finalised soon through mutual discussion. Soon after his appointment as the prime minister of Nepal, Oli met with the Indian envoy and urged him to arrange his Delhi visit. Swarup also briefed about three-day India visit of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa starting Saturday.
He said Thapa is visiting Delhi to inform about the political situation to Indian establishment, against the backdrop of the formation of new government and disruption of supplies in some border points. “This (Thapa’s visit) will provide us with a very useful opportunity to discuss current political situation in Nepal and to see how we can further strengthen India-Nepal relations,” Swarup said.
Referring PM Oli’s remarks regarding the “unofficial blockade” by India, during his address to the parliament on Thursday, Swarup reiterated that there was no blockade against Nepal. Addressing the Legislature-Parliament on Thursday, Prime Minister Oli said “unofficial blockade” at the border continued and that it was against international laws. “Of the nine crossing points that are capable of carrying commercial cargos, five to six have been constantly in use throughout. This dispels any kind of theory there is a blockade. In the 24-hour period, 733 commercial vehicles moved through the seven crossing points that are open,” said the MEA spokesperson.
He, however, admitted that there are still thousands of vehicles, waiting at various crossing points, in particular at Birgunj-Raxaul crossing where hundreds of Nepali protesters have gathered.
Hinting that Nepal government failed to resolve the political problem despite the closure of the busiest customs for the past 22 days, Swarup said discussions would be held over the bilateral ties and various problems during Thapa’s visit. According to him, Thapa will visit India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, among other officials, during his visit.