Modi's proposed visit to Nepal will be historical, says expert

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit to Nepal will help to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries, an expert has said.

Nihar Nayak, an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), a Delhi-based security think-tank, said Prime Minister Modi's visit to Nepal would be historic and would have positive ripples in reviving Nepal's polity.

Nepal is an important country in political, strategic and security point of view.

India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj would be visiting Nepal later this month to prepare the ground for Modi's visit.

"This would be a historical visit, because Prime Minister of India will be visiting after 17 years. Former Prime Minister of India, I.K. Gujral visited in 1997, and since then, there has not been a senior-level or high-level political visit between two countries. The political leaders of Nepal have been demanding that high-level political meeting should be revived," Nayak said.

"The Prime Minister's visit will be very significant, as at this time, the political leaders in Nepal have discussing various contentious issues like federalism, nature of governance and nature of judiciary. The Government of India has been supporting the peace process since 2005- 2006. So obviously, the Prime Minister's visit would be a huge benefit to the Nepalese people. During the Prime Minister visit, he may offer and economic package, particularly for the economic development of Nepal," Nayak added.

There will be a joint commission meeting, where political leaders of both countries would discuss on all bilateral issues, including border, economic and security.

In terms of economic packages, the Government of India will be happy to focus on developing Nepal's infrastructure, particularly in road construction, telecommunication, extending of the Indian railway network to Nepal, hydro-projects, construction of an airport in the Terai region.

"The Prime Minister of India will be visiting for the SAARC summit separately, and Government of India will be very happy, because Nepal is running short of funds for organizing the SAARC meeting. There are some media reports that China offered to organize the SAARC summit in Nepal. So, the Government of India may unilaterally declare to offer some help to the Nepal Government, particularly in organizing the SAARC summit," Nayak said.

During the SAARC summit, Prime Minister Modi may raise the issue of enhancing infrastructure development and connectivity between SAARC nations.

Nepal is looked at as an energy generating hub in South Asia. The country has the capacity of generating 40,000 megawatts of hydro-power. India could be the main connecting point between Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka or Pakistan in distributing power from the SAARC hydro-power energy grid.

Safeguarding the environment is another pressing issue. Small countries like the Maldives, Bhutan and Nepal have been suffering from climate change.

In this regard, India could offer technical support and facilitate an environmental debate, especially in the Himalayan region and the river drainage. All these issues will be discussed during SAARC summit.

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