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AIDIA hosted Seminar on Nepal- India Relations

2019-02-18

Kathmandu, Feb. 17 (Nepalniti)- Kathmandu based foreign policy think tank, the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs (AIDIA) hosted Seminar on “Nepal-India Relations: Issues, Emerging Trends and Boosting Cooperation” on Sunday.

 

Foreign minister of Nepal- Mr. Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Former Education Minister and Central Working Committee Member of Nepali Congress – Chitralekha Yadav, Indian Ambassador- Manjeev Singh Puri , Dr. Manish Thapa- Professor of Research, Institute of International Relations at University of Warsaw and Dr. Dattesh Prabhu Parulekar- Assistant Professor, Goa University were the speakers of the seminar.

 

Highlighting on the Nepal India relations, Dr. Manish Thapa said that Nepal and India is naturally a family and the relationship is complicated due to various opinion makers. He said that Indian Prime Minister Modi’s four visits in five years in Nepal have created both hope and despair. Commenting on the weakness in Nepal-India relations, he said that there is no serious indepth understanding of bilateral issues in academic community of both nations, rather they argue on the basis of media opinion.

 

Dr. Dattesh Prabhu Parulekar said that a Nepal-India relation is based on mutual respect and shared prosperity. The new initiative like inland waterways connectivity between Nepal and India has between has given a new relation that takes relation beyond the border. While highlighting on the challenges he said, “There are various external power polluting the relationship in South Asia.” He also said that South Asia should not only be focused on SAARC but also need to look other forums for cooperation.

 

Manjeev Singh Puri Ambassador of India to Nepal stated that Nepal and India has extraordinary relationship in people to people level since the ancient time. He told , ” India is the fastest growing economy in the world and in next 10 to 15 years, India will be within top three largest economy in the world, so Nepal should think on how to get benefit from India’s development.” He also stressed on need of having dialogue to strengthen the relation that was built by our forefathers.

 

Mrs. Chitra Lekha Yadav raised some cross border issues like security problems, terrorism, fake currency, human and drug trafficking and emphasized on close bilateral cooperation to solve those problems.

 

Chief Guest, Foreign Minister -Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said that Nepal-India has broader potentials of collaboration in areas like infrastructural development which he mentioned as a key to social and economic development. Similarly, he also urged for India’s support in the development of hydropower, tourism, cross border railways, roadways and inland waterways connectivity. He said that terrorism has become serious challenge in south Asia which needs higher level of collaboration between the countries.

 

Mr. Sunil KC, CEO of AIDIA said that Nepal has the largest engagement with India therefore AIDIA is mostly focused on Nepal India relations. He said that he is hopeful for better relationship between Nepal and India in the future. Mr. Shyam KC, Research and Development Director of AIDIA moderated the seminar.

 

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