India, China look to reach out to Prachanda

With Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' sworn in as the Prime Minister of Nepal on Monday, New Delhi is likely to reach out to him soon, while China has already vowed to “inject new impetus” into its “strategic cooperative partnership” with the Himalayan country.

Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra may visit Kathmandu to formally start India’s engagement with the new coalition government of Nepal. New Delhi is also exploring a visit by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Kathmandu.

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A source told DH that New Delhi would like to start discussion with Kathmandu soon for an early visit by the new Nepalese Prime Minister to India.

Prachanda had chosen to visit China first after becoming the prime minister of Nepal in 2008, although all of his predecessors in the past 50 years had come to India on their first official visits as premiers. When he had taken over as the prime minister for the second term in 2016, he, however, made it a point to visit New Delhi first.

New Delhi, according to the sources, is likely to pledge all possible assistance to Prachanda’s government to help it revive the economy and tame inflation. India will also continue financing development projects across Nepal.

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Nepal is one of the South Asian nations where India competes with China for geopolitical influence. “We stand ready to work with the new Nepalese government to expand and deepen friendly exchange and cooperation across the board,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in Beijing on Monday.