NEW DELHI (TIP):

PM Narendra Modi‘s neighbourhood outreach will continues with a visit to Nepal next month, official sources here confirmed. Modi will be in Kathmandu on August 3-4, his second visit to a neighbouring country in little over two months since he took over as PM. Bhutan was his first foreign destination weeks after he assumed power. Modi’s visit to Nepal will be the first stand-alone bilateral visit by an Indian PM in 17 years. IK Gujral had visited Nepal in 1997.

The last PM to visit Nepal was A B Vajpayee in 2002 for a SAARC summit. Modi’s visit to Nepal will follow foreign minister Sushma Swaraj‘s visit starting Friday. Confirming the visit by Swaraj, the government had expressed hope that this would pave the way for an early visit by Modi. Nepal PM Sushil Koirala had invited Modi to visit his country when he met him here for Modi’s swearing-in.

This will be Swaraj’s first visit to Nepal after assuming office. After a gap of 23 years, India and Nepal will hold a Joint Commission meeting to discuss key political, security and border issues for which Swaraj is travelling to the country?. This trip is mainly for confidencebuilding measures, strengthening bilateral ties and preparing the ground for Prime Minister Modi’s upcoming visit, Nepalese Foreign Minister Pandey told a news agency in Kathmandu. ? ?The first and second Joint Commission Meetings took place in Kathmandu and Delhi in 1988 and 1991 respectively.

There has been no such meeting since the second meeting held in Delhi. The Nepal-India Joint Commission Meeting is mainly aimed at resolving political issues between the two countries and harmonising bilateral relations, Pandey said. “Nepal and India are bound together by their common history, culture, tradition, economy and the exchange of high level visits would help strengthen ?age-old relations,” said Pandey.