Nepal foreign minister to visit India this month to restore normalcy to bilateral ties
Nepal’s foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali is set to visit India this month for a meeting with his counterpart S Jaishankar aimed at boosting efforts to restore normalcy to bilateral ties hit by a border row earlier this year. Gyawali will be the senior-most Nepalese leader to visit India since ties were derailed in May, when Kathmandu issued a new political map that included Indian territories. The map was issued in response to India opening a strategic road to the Lipulekh border region, which is claimed by Nepal. After months of rancour, Nepal signalled its intention of resetting ties when Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli reached out to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on telephone on August 15 to exchange greetings on Independence Day. Back-to-back visits to Nepal by Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) head Samant Goel, Indian Army chief General MM Naravane and foreign secretary Harsh Shringla had prepared the grounds for Gyawali’s trip to India in the later part of Dece...