Nepal’s foreign minister Shisir Khanal on Sunday emphasised on a stronger development-oriented partnership with India while also calling for the revival of dormant bilateral mechanisms and the resumption of high-level political exchanges between the two neighbours.Addressing a media briefing during his three-day visit to India, Khanal highlighted the deep historical and cultural links between the two countries, describing Nepal and India as more than just geographical neighbours. “We’re not merely neighbours on the map; we’re children of the same rivers,” Khanal said, adding that the media plays a key role in shaping public understanding of bilateral relations.“In vibrant, pluralistic democracies like ours, the media is the ultimate custodian of the narrative of our visits,” he added.The minister said Nepal’s current leadership wants to focus on development, connectivity and economic growth, saying, “When we look across the border, we see India as an economic powerhouse,” Khanal said. “We see a rising India that has redefined itself on the global stage as a dynamic, fast-growing technology and economic power. We want to engage with this India of aspiration, innovation, and execution.”During the visit, Khanal held talks with external affairs minister S Jaishankar and national security advisor Ajit Doval. He said discussions covered trade, connectivity, energy cooperation, water resources and people-to-people ties. “Our discussions covered the full spectrum of the Nepal-India relationship, including trade, cross-border connectivity, energy partnership, water resources management, and people-to-people ties,” he said.Later, speaking to ANI, Khanal said both sides should make greater use of existing institutional mechanisms to address pending bilateral issues, including boundary-related concerns. “The boundary issues, these are very long, outstanding issues. So what we proposed is that even on the boundary issues, there are mechanisms that existed between the two countries, but many of these mechanisms have remained dormant,” Khanal told ANI.“There is one mechanism actually which is active, and we acknowledge the active work that’s being done on the ground. So we wanted to look from a positive perspective… I think the spirit on both sides is that there’s no harm in sitting at the table and discussing it,” he added.Khanal said one of the primary objectives of his visit was to restart top-level political engagement between the two countries after a gap of nearly two years. “I came with two broad objectives. One is to start the highest-level political visits between the two countries. The last visit was almost two years back,” he said.Further detailings opinion on the talks, he added, “I found our engagement with the NSA, the external affairs minister and his team yesterday very productive and engaging. We’ve discussed a variety of issues from connectivity, bilateral relationship, to energy and multilateral engagements.”Then highlighting recent cooperation, Khanal also emphasised that Nepal and India have operationalised cross-border digital payment transactions through collaboration between Nepal’s National Clearing House Limited (NCHL) and India’s National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), enabling UPI-style transactions across borders.He also pointed to India’s support for post-earthquake reconstruction in Nepal, including health and cultural infrastructure projects, and said both countries were expanding collaboration in digital public infrastructure and emerging technologies.The minister also mentioned the cross-border connectivity projects, including the proposed Janakpur-Ayodhya railway link. “We hope to see Janakpur-Ayodhya rail connectivity very soon. That’s something we discussed. We are very eager to see that resume from Janakpur and through that to other areas as well,” he said.Expressing optimism about the future trajectory of ties, Khanal said he expects high-level visits and political exchanges between the two countries to become more regular in the coming months.
