Kathmandu , 11 August (H.S.): Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah is set to visit India soon. Shah conveyed this during his first meeting with Indian Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava at the Prime Minister’s Office in Singha Durbar on Monday. During the meeting, Ambassador Srivastava conveyed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s greetings to Shah and formally extended an invitation for him to visit India.

According to a member of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, the ambassador also urged Shah to undertake a visit to India. Responding to the invitation, Shah said, “Thank you for the invitation. I will visit India soon.”

Since assuming office, Shah had followed a policy of meeting ambassadors collectively rather than holding individual meetings with them. However, around four and a half months after becoming Prime Minister, he met the Indian and Chinese ambassadors separately on the same day for the first time.

Shah was accompanied by his Chief Personal Secretary Suvas Sharma, IT Adviser Vivek Mishra and a joint secretary heading the India desk at Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with another official. Ambassador Srivastava was accompanied by the Deputy Chief of Mission and a political officer.

The meeting marked Shah’s first formal interaction with an Indian official since taking charge as Prime Minister. The meeting concluded after approximately 30 minutes.

An adviser to the Prime Minister’s team said, “The Prime Minister received the invitation to visit India on Monday itself. This has opened the way for his visit to India. The decision on when to undertake the visit now rests with the Prime Minister.”

Shah had not previously held a meeting with any Indian official since becoming Prime Minister, raising questions over the possibility and timing of his proposed India visit.

Meanwhile, in the first week of July, Shah’s Chief Adviser Kumar Ben travelled to New Delhi, where he held discussions with India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and his team.

Ben’s visit to New Delhi was reportedly aimed at laying the groundwork for Shah’s proposed visit to India. He had also held discussions with Indian Ambassador Naveen Srivastava both before travelling to Delhi and after returning to Nepal.

Before Kumar Ben, Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal and Rastriya Swatantra Party president Rabi Lamichhane had also visited India.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar