Jaishankar's Nepal visit is the second leg of his "SAARC Yatra," which is aimed at strengthening India's ties with neighboring countries and reviewing regional and bilateral cooperation. As part of his SAARC Yatra, Jaishankar has already visited Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. His visit to Nepal is seen with high importance as his visit comes after Nepal and India revived Foreign Secretary level mechanism after a long time.Spokesperson at Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Tara Prasad Pokharel, said he is scheduled to hold discussion with his Nepali counterpart to enhance bilateral relations between the two countries. During the bilateral talks, Jaishankar and his Nepali counterpart Shanker Das Bairagi will dwell on a gamut of issues that define Nepal-India relations and find ways to address problems seen in the bilateral relations.
During his stay in Kathmandu, Jaishankar will also pay courtesy call on President Ram Baran Yadav, Chairman of Constituent Assembly Subash Nembang, Foreign Minister Mahendra Bahadur Pandey and top leaders of various political parties.
During the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Nepal in August, 2014, the two countries agreed to entrust foreign secretaries of the two countries with taking steps to help settle disputes over border issues and revise the 1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty between the two countries.
Secretary Jaishankar will arrive in Kathmandu at 9 am Thursday and fly back to New Delhi at 3 pm the next day.
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