New Delhi, June 1 (Agency) India and Nepal on Thursday inked seven agreements and launched six projects, including for cross-border petroleum pipelines, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda held productive talks here, to take the bilateral partnership from “hit” to “superhit”. PM Modi in tweets said: “@cmprachanda and I had productive talks on the progress in India-Nepal relations over the last few years and ways to deepen this cooperation even further. Key sectors like commerce, energy, culture and infrastructure featured prominently in the discussion.”
“Nine years ago, I had talked about the ‘HIT’ friendship between India-Nepal relations – Highways, I-ways, and Trans-ways. Our partnership has bloomed since and we want to make our partnership a ‘Superhit’, which is what these projects will achieve.” In his remarks after holding delegation level talks with visiting Nepalese PM Dahal, PM Modi said: “We will continue to work towards taking our bilateral ties to Himalayan heights. And with this sentiment in mind, we will seek to resolve all our bilateral issues, including of boundary.” In his address, PM Modi recalled: “I remember that nine years ago, in 2014, within three months after taking over in my first term, I travelled to Nepal for the first time. “I had said that we will build such ties with Nepal that our borders should not act as our barriers. “At that time I had given the hit formula for making the bilateral ties a hit – of highways, e-ways and transways.”
“Myself and PM Prachanda have taken important steps to make our partnership a superhit one, and in this context we have concluded the transit agreement. “We have taken steps to open new railway routes for the people of Nepal, and along with that also arranged for inland waterways benefits.” PM Modi also proposed fast-tracking work on the Ramayan circuit.n “India and Nepal have age-old religious and cultural ties, and PM Dahal and myself have agreed to fast forward the Ramayan circuit programmes.” On the border issue, Nepalese PM Dahal said: “PM Modi and I also discussed about border issues. I suggested that the border disputes should be resolved through established diplomatic mechanism.” PM Prachanda also invited PM Modi to visit Nepal. He said that India is not only Nepal’s closest neighbor but also its largest trading partner and added that he would soon welcome PM Modi on his visit to Nepal. Prime Minister Dahal said that there will soon be a tripartite agreement for the export of electricity to Bangladesh.
PM Modi also said that India will purchase 10,000 megawatts of electricity from Nepal over the next 10 years. An agreement was reached between both sides for the construction of two important petroleum pipelines Two petroleum pipelines– from Siliguri in India to Jhapa, Nepal; and from Amalekhgunj in Bara to Lothar of Chitwan (both in Nepal) would be constructed for smooth supply of petroleum products. A storage would be constructed in Jhapa. The Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam of India is to construct the Lower Arun Hydropower Project in Nepal, for which a bilateral agreement was inked today. The company has also been undertaking the construction of the Arun-III Hydropower Project. Later, Nepalese PM Dahal called on Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and President Droupadi Murmu. The President’s House in a tweet said: “President Droupadi Murmu met Prime Minister @cmprachanda of Nepal at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The President noted that India-Nepal bilateral cooperation has gone from strength to strength in recent years. She expressed confidence that this visit would further strengthen the strong bond between the two countries.” The Vice President’s Office in a tweet said: “Hon’ble Vice President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar was pleased to receive the visiting Prime Minister of Nepal Rt. Hon @cmprachanda today. Age old cultural ties between India and Nepal continue to be the bedrock of our relationship as we make good progress in other areas of our engagement.”