Nepal PM Balen Shah Meets Indian Envoy Naveen Srivastawa Ahead Of All Others
This was the first direct diplomatic contact between an Indian envoy and the Nepal PM who had in the past refused to meet any foreign diplomat privately though he met envoys in gatherings. He had refused to meet India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in May, leading New Delhi to cancel the visit, and had denied separate audiences to high-ranking United States officials, including Assistant Secretary of State Samir Paul Kapur and special envoy Sergio Gor
New Delhi: Ending his self-imposed rule to not have one-on-one meetings with envoys, Nepal Prime Minister Mr Balen Shah on Monday met the Indian ambassador to Kathmandu, Mr Naveen Srivastawa. He later also met the Chinese ambassador to Kathmandu and will meet the United States Chargé d’Affaires on Tuesday.
This was the first direct diplomatic contact between an Indian envoy and the Nepal PM who had in the past refused to meet any foreign diplomat privately though he met envoys in gatherings. He had refused to meet India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in May, leading New Delhi to cancel the visit, and had denied separate audiences to high-ranking United States officials, including Assistant Secretary of State Samir Paul Kapur and special envoy Sergio Gor.
However, Mr Shah chose “Shravan Somvar”, an auspicious day in the Hindu calendar, to initiate strategic engagements with his neighbouring countries. In this regard, India was called the first before others even though Mr Shah tried to balance China by calling its envoy Mr Zhang Maoming the same day, but after Mr Srivastava.
The India-first sequencing was significant. A senior foreign ministry official had told a Kathmandu-based daily Nepal Khabar before the meetings, “The Indian ambassador is told to come first, followed by the Chinese ambassador,” adding that the timing reflected the government's foreign-policy priority.
Mr Srivastava conveyed greetings of Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi to Mr Shah and gifted him a Madhubani painting. Mr Shah’s council of ministers were also present during the meeting held at Singha Durbar.
Taking to social media platform X, following the courtesy call with Mr Shah, ambassador Srivastava said, "I conveyed warm greetings from Prime Minister Modi ji to Prime Minister Balendra Shah and had an engaging and productive exchange of views on further deepening robust, multi-faceted India and Nepal partnership. We had an in-depth and fruitful discussion on further strengthening the robust, multidimensional partnership between India and Nepal .”
Mr Shah’s secretariat also said that various issues of bilateral friendship, mutual interests, development partnership and cooperation between Nepal and India were discussed during the meeting.
