KATHMANDU, 3 December 2020, (TON):  After a lot of efforts by New Delhi and visit by Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Army Chief General MM Naravane and RAW’s Chief Samant Goel to Kathmandu, ice has started to melt but only to resumption of talks between Nepal and India.  

In the latest announcement, Kathmandu has confirmed visit of Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali to India for bilateral talks. Although, India has opened its border with Nepal after seven months but Nepalese authorities at Kathmandu have refused to reciprocate.

At the invitation of External Affairs Minister of India, S Jaishankar, foreign minister Gyawali will be visiting New Delhi from 22 to 23 December 2020,  to take part in the Sixth meeting of Joint Commission between Nepal and India at Foreign Minister level. The joint commission is the highest level mechanism between the two countries.  Gyawali confirmed that he is visiting New Delhi in a bilateral visit and would raise the issue of boundary dispute strongly.

Ties between Nepal and India had got extremely tense after Nepal issued a new map in May this year in response to India opening of road to the Lipulekh border region, which is claimed by Nepal.