KATHMANDU, April 27: Unified CPN (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ´Prachanda´ has said that he was visiting India with a focus on the forthcoming election to the Constituent Assembly (CA) and the country´s economic prosperity.
Talking to media persons at Tribhuvan International Airport before boarding a plane to New Delhi today, he said his visit would focused on the economic progress of the country and untangling the political deadlock. Dahal will be in India for three days.[break]
"I have proposed, on behalf Nepal, to both China and India for three-country partnership; I am confident that this proposal will contribute in a special way for the country´s economic prosperity," he said.
The UCPN (Maoist) chairman, who is also the former Prime Minister, said that during his India visit he would request India to provide cooperation for the development of water resources, tourism and infrastructures, among different sectors.
Stating that the visit to the neighbouring countries he begun with a weeklong visit to China in the third week of this month would be fruitful, he said, "A poor and impoverished country would not be in the interest of the neighbours. So, it is necessary to bring up the economic issues. I informed the Chinese leadership about this in connection with my China visit. I would inform about the same to Indian leaders during my India visit also."
The UCPN (Maoist) chair stated that his goal is to move ahead by maintaining the same level of goodwill with the neighbouring countries. "The situation at present is not like in the past of playing one country against the other," he noted.
Dahal underlined that he was visiting India more as the representative of the entire country rather than the UCPN (Maoist) chairman. He also made it clear that the cooperation of the neighbours was sought for making the forthcoming CA election successful.
He claimed that Nepal would neither achieve economic progress nor political stability without the cooperation of its immediate neighbours. When journalists asked him regarding the Indian Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid´s comments that the three-country partnership was not immediately possible, Dahal said," Theoretically, his remarks are pragmatic, our effort is to implement it gradually to give it a concrete shape."
We should also internalize the fact that the Indian External Affairs Minister too has accepted that the three-country partnership proposal is a novel and unique proposal, he said.
The UCPN (Maoist) chairman said that although there are many comments on the agenda of the visit, the talks and meetings that will be held in course of the visit would all be transparent and the Nepali people would be given true information.
"Nothing would be hidden, all the Nepali people would be informed in a factual and transparent manner," he said.
Former Prime Minister Dahal said that during his visit to India he would work keeping the national interest at the centre and make efforts towards making the forthcoming election successful.
Stating that he would proceed ahead taking the neighbours into confidence and hold discussions keeping the country´s interests at the centre, the UCPN (Maoist) chairman stressed that efforts would also be made towards resolving the topics of concerns raised on behalf Nepal in the past.
Referring to the request he made during a meeting on Friday with Chairman of the Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi to fix the election date forthwith, Dahal reiterated that the election date would be determined within a few days.
Dahal is accompanied by party leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara, spouse Sita Dahal and an assistant Shiva Khakurel.
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