Foreign Secretary Misri begins Nepal visit on Sunday

New Delhi | Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will pay a two-day visit to Nepal beginning Sunday as part of the preparations for Nepalese Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli's planned trip to India next month.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Misri is travelling to the Himalayan country following an invitation from his Nepalese counterpart, Amrit Bahadur Rai.

"India and Nepal share strong and friendly ties which have seen concrete progress in recent years in diverse areas of cooperation," it said, announcing Misri's August 17-18 visit.

Nepal is important for India in the context of its overall strategic interests in the region and the leaders of the two countries have often noted the age-old "Roti-Beti" relationship.

Land-locked Nepal relies heavily on India for the transportation of goods and services. Nepal's access to the sea is through India and it imports a predominant proportion of its requirements from and through India.

The MEA said India attaches high priority to its relations with Nepal under its Neighbourhood First policy.

"The foreign secretary's upcoming visit continues the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries and will be an opportunity to further advance our bilateral ties," it said.

People familiar with the matter said the main focus of Misri's engagements in Kathmandu will be on preparing the ground for Oli's trip to New Delhi next month.

Oli is likely to visit India around September 16, according to diplomatic sources.

However, no official announcement on the trip is yet to be made.