Pak presses Nepal over SAARC summit

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who arrived in Nepal on Monday afternoon held talks with Nepali counterpart KP Sharma Oli and asked him to make South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) more rigid and powerful.

The meeting which was held in Hotel Yak and Yeti late in the evening following the Guard of Honor in Tundikhel lasted for about 30 minutes.

Nepal, the chair of the SAARC had held the late 18th summit in 2014 and it was Pakistan's turn to hold the next summit but was forced to be cancelled after the majority of the member nations expressed their unwillingness to attend.

Apart from the issues over the SAARC, the two-state heads discussed the issues of interest between the two countries.

"A discourse will be initiated after the visit over the SAARC process will move forward because from very start of the SAARC formation in 1985, Nepal has been a strong supporter of SAARC process and Nepal has already hosted three summits before and is a strong supporter of it. Once this visit happens I guess there would be positive ambits towards moving ahead under the umbrella of the SAARC," Lekhanath Pandey, Diplomacy analyst in Nepali capital Kathmandu told ANI before the arrival of Pakistan Prime Minister.

Abbasi upon arriving Nepal received the Guard of Honor from the Nepal Army and then met the leaders of the various portfolio and parties including the longtime disgruntled Madhesh based parties.

Abbasi who is in two days state visit to Nepal to convey a congratulatory message to Nepal's new PM is set to meet Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari tomorrow and will return back to Pakistan Tuesday afternoon.