During a meeting with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Tuesday afternoon, Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said India will support any type of government in Nepal.[break]
“We will support any decision you take,” the prime minister´s foreign relations advisor Rajan Bhattarai quoted Rao as saying. “We support multi-party democracy and stability in Nepal.”
Rao arrived in Kathmandu on a three-day goodwill visit to Nepal on Tuesday morning.
The prime minister told Rao that parties will form a majority government if efforts to form consensus government fail to yield any result. The deadline given to the political parties by the president to form consensus government is expiring on Friday.
Rao particularly expressed her concern about the fate of the peace process in Nepal in the aftermath UNMIN´s departure on January 15. “We have agreed to hand over all the responsibilities carried out by UNMIN to the Special Committee,” Bhattarai quoted the prime minister as saying.
Rao said India has an interest in what happens in Nepal as it is a true friend of Nepal. Rao and her Nepali counterpart Madan Kumar Bhattarai had briefed the prime minister about the review meeting held earlier on the implementation of various bilateral cooperation projects agreed between the two countries in August, 2009. Foreign secretary Bhattarai and Rao are set to meet again to review the progress on these projects.
Indian side had expressed concern over the delay in the construction of Integrated Check Post at Raxaul-Birgunj check-point by the Nepali side. The construction of Nepal Police Academy in Kavre and implementation of the agreement to avoid double taxation also featured during the meeting between the foreign secretaries of the two countries.
Likewise, disruption in the survey being carried out by India to connect five Nepali towns, including Janakpur, Biratnagar, Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa and Kakarbhitta with nearest Indian railway link was also discussed in the review meeting.
According to the prime minister´s advisor, the prime minister also assured Rao that Nepal government will resolve all technical and administrative problems that have snagged the implementation of these projects. “I will direct concerned ministries to address the issues,” said Bhattarai.
Rao said that Nepal and India could work together bilaterally, regionally and multilaterally on various areas of common concerns.
The Indian foreign secretary also held separate meetings with Speaker Subas Nembang and President Dr Ram Baran Yadav on Tuesday. Rao will hold meetings with Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala, Rastriya Janashakti Party Chairman Surya Bahadur Thapa, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal on Wednesday. She is also scheduled to hold a meeting with Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala and leaders of other political parties before wrapping up her Nepal visit on Thursday.
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