Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda yesterday left for Goa to participate in the Brics-Bimstec outreach summit to be held from October 15 to 16.
This is Prachanda’s second visit to India after becoming the prime minister on August 4 this year. He had visited New Delhi in September at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Heads of state and government of five Brics nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - are meeting in Goa for their eighth annual gathering, after India assumed the chair of the bloc early this year.
Prachanda is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the
summit.
The meeting between Prachanda and Xi will focus on fixing the latter’s visit to Nepal and implementation of the agreements reached between the two countries, Minister for Foreign Affairs Prakash Sharan Mahat said.
“During his meeting with Xi, PM Prachanda will invite him to visit Nepal at the earliest possible date,” Mahat told reporters. “Besides, the meeting will also dwell on bilateral assistance and cooperation and implementation of the past agreements.”
Earlier there were talks about Xi’s visit to Nepal either on his way to Goa or while returning from the Brics Summit. However, there was no confirmation to this effect from either side.
It was believed that Xi would visit Nepal while visiting Cambodia and Bangladesh. The Chinese president, however, left for Cambodia on Thursday and
travelled to Bangladesh on Friday.
Since assuming office in August, Prachanda has laid stress on cordial relations with both neighbouring countries and maintain high-level exchanges, as part of which he visited India on September 15-18 and Indian President Pranab Mukherjee is arriving in Nepal on
November 2.
From the northern neighbour, Jiang Zemin was the last Chinese president to visit Nepal in December 1996. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had briefly visited Nepal in January 2012.
“High-level exchanges
between the two countries are
important,” said Mahat.
“The summit is expected to provide an important platform to explore areas of partnership between the two dynamic groups of countries,” he added.
India will also host leaders of neighbouring Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand for the Brics-
Bimstec outreach summit.