Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday said he will try to identify steps
to strengthen cooperation in energy, trade and investment between India
and Nepal in his talks with Nepali leaders.
"We will identify steps to strengthen our bilateral cooperation in key sectors, including trade and investment, hydro power, agriculture and agro-processing, environment, tourism, education, culture and sports," Modi said in a statement ahead of his two-day visit beginning Sunday.
The prime minister also said he will discuss with the Nepali leadership and their business leaders "how we can harness the full potential of the new digital age to empower and create new opportunities for the youth of the two countries."
"We will identify steps to strengthen our bilateral cooperation in key sectors, including trade and investment, hydro power, agriculture and agro-processing, environment, tourism, education, culture and sports," Modi said in a statement ahead of his two-day visit beginning Sunday.
The prime minister also said he will discuss with the Nepali leadership and their business leaders "how we can harness the full potential of the new digital age to empower and create new opportunities for the youth of the two countries."
Modi's trip will be the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime
Minister to Nepal in 17 years, after IK Gujral had travelled there in
June 1997.
The Prime Minister will hold talks with his counterpart Sushil Koirala
and address that country's Constituent Assembly, only the second foreign
leader after former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl who had done it in
the early 1990s.
He will also address the Nepalese business community. India Inc has welcomed the strengthening of business ties between the two countries.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) hoped that the visit would bring added momentum to Indo-Nepalese trade and investment ties. "Indo-Nepal ties evoke a rich tapestry of relations framed by trade and investment, culture and robust people-to-people contacts".
"There are six million Nepalese working in India and there are 600,000 Indians who have made Nepal their home. We need to harness this by exploring the untapped potential in hydropower, tourism, agriculture & food processing towards mutually beneficial economic growth and development," said Jyotsna Suri, senior vice-president, FICCI.
India has currently entered into bilateral investment protection and promotion agreement (BIPA), a double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA), a revised bilateral air services agreement and lines of credit from Exim Bank of India to Nepal. These have have added substance to the ties.
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