Kathmandu, June 5: President of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and former Deputy Prime Minister, Rabi Lamichhane, who returned home on Friday evening after concluding his five-day official visit to India, said prompting prosperity was his key agenda during the visit.
Talking to media at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) upon his arrival, Lamichhane said discussions with the Indian side focused on bilateral cooperation in various sectors, ranging from sports to information technology (IT).
“During the visit, it was made clear what kind of support and engagement the RSP-led government seeks from India. We dwelt on government’s priorities from connectivity to religious tourism as well as the expected benefits of Nepal-India relations,” president explained, adding that making the Nepali Embassy and Nepali mechanism more responsive and efficient also featured while addressing the concerns of Nepali citizens in India.
Nepal-India border dispute will be addressed diplomatically, leader Lamichhane said, underscoring, “Diplomatic efforts matter and these are significant in dealing with border issues. Such dealings should be handled in a gradual way and the efforts towards that end have been progressing accordingly.”
According to him, during the visit, invitations to visit Nepal were extended to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chair Nitin Nabin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with whom he held separate bilateral talks. He said the responses from both leaders were positive.
The RSP chair further informed Nepal’s Prime Minister’s visit to India would be determined based on the time and context.
“The Prime Minister and I have shared the responsibilities over the operations of the government and the party. We have created an atmosphere conducive to the government for focusing on its duties and responsibilities,” the RSP President made it clear.
He had departed for the five-day official visit to the southern neighbour at the invitation of BJP chair Nabin.
Before his departure from New Delhi, Nepal’s Charge D’affaires to India, Dr Surendra Thapa, BJP’s Foreign Affairs Department chief Dr Bijay Chauthaiwale were at New Delhi-based Indira Gandhi International Airport to see him off, according to the Embassy of Nepal, New Delhi.
During the visit, the RSP President held separate bilateral meetings with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Minister of External Affairs, Dr S Jaishankar, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chair Nabin. The discussions focused on strengthening bilateral relations and matters of mutual interests.
Lamichhane’s entourage included his spouse Nikita Paudel, RSP joint general secretary and House of Representatives (HoR) member Bipin Kumar Acharya, RSP secretariat member and HoR member Deepak Bohara, and his private secretary Pradip Acharya.#nepal #rss
