Giving a boost to age-old historical ties between the two countries, Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba arrived here on Friday for a three-day visit.
He is accompanied by his wife Arzu Deuba and a high-level delegation.
He will hold summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday to take stock of the relations between the two neighbours. The two leaders will also explore ways to further enhance cooperation in the fields of trade, connectivity, and electricity besides people-to-people relations.
Modi and Deuba will “virtually” flag off the first passenger train service on the broad-gauge line between India and Nepal on Saturday. The launch of the rail service would further boost the relations between the two countries. The 35-km long rail line will connect Jaynagar in Bihar and Kurtha in Nepal.
It is the first visit abroad by Prime Minister Deuba since he assumed office in July last year. He is here at the invitation of Modi. “A fond welcome to a special friend. PM of Nepal @SherBDeuba arrives in India for an official visit from 01-03 April 2022,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet.
The summit with Modi will take place on Saturday at the Hyderabad House here. Besides official engagements in New Delhi, the Nepalese Prime Minister will visit Varanasi.
This is his fifth tenure as the Prime Minister of Nepal. He had met Prime Minister Modi on November 2, 2021, on the sidelines of COP 26 in Glasgow.
The Ministry of External Affairs said India and Nepal enjoy age-old special ties of friendship and cooperation. The last Head of State visit from Nepal was in May 2019, when then Prime Minister K P Oli participated in the swearing-in ceremony of Modi and the Union Council of Ministers.
Before that Modi had visited Nepal in August 2018 for the 4th BIMSTEC Summit in Kathmandu, which was preceded by a State visit to Nepal in May 2018.