INDIA AND Nepal completed the internal processes to enforce the mutual legal assistance pact to tackle “cross-border crimes”, as the visiting Foreign Minister of Nepal Shishir Khanal met External Affairs minister S Jaishankar on Saturday.
The two sides also made progress in the sectors of health, UPI, innovation and startups. Khanal’s visit comes days after the chief of Nepal’s ruling RSP, Rabi Lamichhane, met the Indian leadership in .
After the bilateral meeting, Jaishankar posted on X, “A pleasure to meet FM Shisir Khanal of Nepal and his delegation today. A detailed discussion on our unique partnership, including on development cooperation, connectivity, energy, especially hydropower development, education, health, capacity building, digital, culture and sports. Reiterated India’s commitment to work with Nepal for mutual progress, prosperity & well-being of our peoples.”
The Ministry of External Affairs released an official statement: “Both Ministers welcomed the completion of internal processes for entry into force of the India-Nepal Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement in Criminal Matters (MLAA). This Agreement will benefit the people of India and Nepal by providing an institutional legal framework to enhance the effectiveness of investigation, prosecution and judicial proceedings relating to cross-border crimes.”
The two ministers vowed to take the bilateral ties to “new heights” while reviewing the full spectrum of the relations, covering development cooperation, connectivity, trade and transit, energy, and people-to-people ties, according to the MEA.
The Nepalese Foreign Minister also met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
After the bilateral talks, Jaishankar handed over 72 health facilities and 12 cultural heritage sector projects, completed under India’s post-2015 ‘Earthquake Reconstruction Assistance’ to Nepal, to the visiting Foreign Minister.
The ministers jointly launched the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) linkage between Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and National Payments Interface (NPI) of Nepal for facilitating cross-border personal remittances, the MEA said.
It also said the ministers witnessed the signing of MoU between Digital India Bhashini and Kathmandu University for co-creating National Digital Infrastructure for “Voice First” Language Translation platform.
This is the first official visit by the Nepalese Foreign minister after the new government led by PM Balendra Shah assumed office in March this year.
The MEA statement said the discussions were held in a warm, friendly and constructive atmosphere, reflecting the unique and special ties between the two countries.
“Nepal is a priority partner of India under its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and the visit reinforced the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two close and friendly neighbours. It provided an opportunity to exchange views on enhancing the bilateral partnership to fulfill the aspirations of peoples from both countries, and has imparted fresh vigour to our efforts towards this objective,” the MEA said.
