Kathmandu, Jan 3: Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will be arriving in Kathmandu on Thursday leading a delegation to participate in the seventh meeting of the Nepal-India joint commission. The joint commission has remained as the highest level bilateral mechanism between Nepal and India entrusted to review the entire status of bilateral ties.
According to sources familiar with Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nepal, at least two agreements related to long-term energy cooperation and India’s proposal to increase funds for small development projects under the High-impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs), will be signed during the visit.
It is learnt that Jaishankar will land in Kathmandu on Thursday morning and will co-chair the commission’s meeting. Nepal’s Foreign Minister NP Saud will lead the Nepali delegation in the meeting. Jaishankar had last visited Kathmandu in 2019.
Indian foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Joint Secretary (North, Incharge of Nepal, Bhutan) Anurag Shrivastava, spokesman at India’s Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi, and other officials from the Ministry of External Affairs who deal with boundary management issues, will accompany Jaishankar on the visit.
While the final agenda of the visit is expected to be readied by Tuesday evening, the plan is to sign the two agreements, according to officials.
The Nepali side is still working to give a final shape to the detailed project report of the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project.
All issues between the two countries, including border, trade, commerce, economic cooperation, and electricity trade, will be discussed at the joint commission meeting, foreign ministry official said.
The issue of signing a long-term energy cooperation agreement has been in talks since the India visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ in May-June last year.
During Dahal’s visit to India, the two countries had agreed to sign a long-term agreement on energy, whereby India would import 10,000 megawatts from Nepal in ten years. During a recent event, Prime Minister Dahal stated, “We are going to sign a long-term energy deal with India soon. A mid-term and a long-term energy trading deal will be signed in Kathmandu.”
After the bilateral talks on June 1 last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced during a joint press meet with Dahal that the India would import 10,000 MW of electricity in 10 years from Nepal under a long-term power trade agreement.
During Jaishankar’s visit, Nepal will give its nod to the Indian offer to increase the budget for small projects to be implemented by local units. The budget is being increased from the existing Rs50 million per project to Rs200 million per project.
India had initially proposed a grant of IRs 150 million or NRs 240 million for each project. But before tabling the proposal, the Ministry of Finance has trimmed it to Rs 200 million citing the requirement for local-level contributions (around 20 percent of the cost), according to finance ministry sources.
India has been building schools and hospitals and other small projects under the scheme. The proposed adjustments are expected to address resource shortfalls for the execution of internal infrastructure projects or for acquiring necessary equipment for the projects.
Formerly known as small development project scheme and launched in November 2003, the Indian side has rebranded it as High-impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs).
Since 2003, over 535 HICDPs have been taken up by the government of India of which 476 have been completed while 59 are ongoing, and the total cost of all projects is around NRs 11.55 billion.
Jaishankar will call on President Ram Chandra Paudel, Prime Minister Dahal and top leaders of major parties before wrapping up his trip on Friday.
