“Trade in power is a win-win situation for both countries”

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday met Nepal’s key leaders, conveyed India’s goodwill for the neighbour and pledged engagement at the highest level, officials said.

“The message is that the new government in India is ready to impart renewed momentum to the multifaceted relations between the two countries,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told a press conference at the venue of the meeting of the Nepal-India Joint Commission (JC), where officials were negotiating on a range of bilateral issues.

Ms. Swaraj arrived here on Friday for a three-day visit, leading a high-level delegation for the JC meeting, which is being held after 23 years. The JC — co-chaired by Foreign Ministers of the two countries — is the highest-level bilateral mechanism and was supposed to meet every two years.

The fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Nepal in August before attending the SAARC Summit in Kathmandu later this year demonstrates the priority that India places on its relations with Nepal, the spokesperson said.

Responding to the widespread perception of India’s “interference” in Nepal’s affairs, the MEA official said it was for the people of Nepal to work out solutions that worked best for them. He said India was ready to work with Nepal to develop its hydropower potential. “Trade in power is a win-win situation for both countries,” he said. “We stand ready to cooperate at a pace that Nepal is comfortable with.” For Nepal, the added benefit was to reduce the huge trade deficit with India. In her meetings with Nepal’s leaders, including President Ram Baran Yadav, Ms. Swaraj conveyed India’s desire for a timely and inclusive Constitution that was “acceptable to all.”

Ms. Swaraj expressed India’s “support, goodwill and cooperation” to Nepal on a range of issues, including the new Constitution, said Nepal Prime Minister’s Foreign Policy Adviser Dinesh Bhattarai. During her meeting with Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, Ms. Swaraj said the two countries were poised for a new beginning.

She also met leaders of the main opposition, UCPN (Maoist), who have taken the upcoming Modi visit “very positively.”

“We raised three issues with Ms. Swaraj — India’s goodwill to complete Nepal’s peace process, engagement at the political level, and the need for India to announce a mega project for Nepal,” UCPN (Maoist) leader and former Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestah told The Hindu. She met leaders of RPP and several Madhes-based parties in two days.