Prachanda's visit to expand relations with India: Foreign Ministry

Kathmandu, Sep 12 (UNI) Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' will pay official visit to India from September 14 to 18 at the invitation of his counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh to expand the bilateral relations, according to Foreign Ministry.

Foreign Ministry said the main objective of the upcoming visit of Mr Prachanda was to consolidate and expand the bilateral relations with a view of taking them to new heights.

This visit bears a special significance as it is the first visit of the elected Prime Minister of Nepal to India following the Constituent Assembly elections held in April, the Ministry said in a statement.

The visit is expected to enhance mutual trust, goodwill and understanding and promote mutually beneficial cooperation, it said.

The visit will also contribute to strengthening people-to-people relations subsisting between the two friendly countries.

Premier Prachanda will be accompanied by Minister for Foreign Affairs Upendra Yadav, Minister for Information and Communications Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Minister for Water Resources Bishnu Paudel, and Minister for Commerce and Supplies Rajendra Mahato.

Prime Minister will pay courtesy calls on the president and Vice President of India separately. He will discuss the whole gamut of bilateral issues with the Prime Minister of India during the official talks, the Ministry said.

Prime Minister of India is scheduled to host a banquet in honour of the Prime Minister of Nepal.

Nepalese Prime Minister will also hold talks with various prominent leaders of India.

Besides this, the PM is also scheduled to address a programme jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) and the Association of Chambers of Commerce.

He is scheduled to visit Bangalore, the information technology capital of India during the course of the visit.

Senior government officials, businesses people and media persons will accompany the Prime Minister during the visit.

This is his second visit to a foreign country since he became Prime Minister last month. He had visited China to attend the concluding ceremony of Beijing Olympics.

India was not happy with the visit of Nepal's Communist Prime Minister's maiden visit to China breaking the tradition of visiting India first by any Nepalese Prime Minister in the past.

Prime Minister Prachanda is also visiting the US to attend the general assembly of the UN. The US has still listed Maoist party as a terrorist organisation.

UNI XC MP RN0253