Nepal appoints new Foreign Minister, PM Prachanda to visit India soon

Nepali Congress leader N.P. Saud was on Sunday appointed the country's new Foreign Minister - filling the key post that was lying vacant for over one and half months.

Saud, who is considered close with former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Chandra Poudel.

After assuming the office, he said that homework for the India visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' will now begin.

According to some media reports, Prachanda is now planning to visit India by mid May, instead of April as planned earlier.

"I have just assumed office today... I will take a briefing from the officials regarding the India visit of the Prime Minister," Saud said after assuming the office.

"We will strengthen our ties with the neighbouring countries," he added.

A slew of agreements across various sectors are expected to be signed during Prachanda's visit, including signing of an agreement for the construction of the Raxaul-Kathmandu railway with India's financial assistance as its detailed project report (DPR) has been prepared by the Indian consultant Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd (KRCL).

The KRCL has already handed over the DPR to India's Ministry of External Affairs.

During a press conference on March 27, Deputy Prime Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha, who then held the Physical Infrastructure and Transport portfolio, had said that the DPR of the proposed Kathmandu-Raxaul railway would be prepared within a month and the Nepali side could receive the report a month later.

To discuss the DPR of the 136-km-long railway that will link Kathmandu with the Indian town Raxaul, Nepal and India are holding a meeting of their joint working group on railway by the end of this week, said an senior official at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport.

Some other agreements and issues related to development of two hydropower projects in Nepal, energy cooperation, trade, commerce, digital payments, import of wheat, air routes, water resources, transit, cross-border transmission line among others will be signed or discussed in the visit.

--IANS

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