Minister for Foreign Affairs Prakash Sharan Mahat on Tuesday underscored the importance of multilateral approach in addressing major challenges facing the world. 

Addressing the opening panel of the second edition of the Raisina Dialogue organised by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, in partnership with the Observer Research Foundation, in New Delhi on Tuesday evening, Mahat said, “In 2015, we demonstrated our collective ability to address global challenges by adopting SDGs and Paris

Agreement and yet, agreements on several critical agendas of multilateral process have been hard to reach.”

On energy security, the foreign minister made a point that development of hydropower is the area that promises great opportunities for partnership and cooperation in the region. He also pointed at the need of enhancing regional and sub regional processes. 

The foreign minister appreciated India’s “neighbourhood first policy” and stressed that such policy could be translated into concrete deliverables in the form of more trade, investment and connectivity of railways, highways and transmission infrastructure as joint undertaking.      

Mahat returned home on Wednesday. 

During his stay in New Delhi, Mahat also held a meeting with Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and discussed economic cooperation, post-earthquake reconstruction in Nepal, trade and transit and exchange of banned Indian notes in Nepal.