Both Nepal and India have said that
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee's three-day state visit of Nepal has been
successful.
In a tweet on Friday evening, the
Indian Embassy in Kathmandu termed the visit as being 'highly successful' while
the government of Nepal said that the visit had been successful and would be
reciprocated by President Bidya Devi Bhandari's visit to India at the earliest.
President Mukherjee had invited his
Nepalese counterpart to visit India in his address at the State Banquet
organized by President Bhandari in his honour.
Addressing the civic reception
programme in Janakpurdham on Friday afternoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Home
Minister Bimalendra Nidhi viewed that the visit had added new dimensions to the
state-to-state and the people-to-people relationships between the two
neighbours.
"He
highlighted the strong cultural and religious ties existing between Nepal and
India and the need of further building on the relations through closer
cooperation in the areas of tourism, infrastructure, trade, investment and
connectivity," Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press statement.
The 12th president of the
southern neighbour had landed in Kathmandu on Wednesday on a three-day state
visit.
It was a visit to Nepal by the head of
the state of India in a gap of 18 years. Indian president KR Narayanan had
visited Nepal in 1998.
In her address at the State Banquet
organised in honour of her Indian counterpart on Nov. 2, President Bhandari had
said that the state visit would give a new momentum to the close bilateral ties
as it had come after regular exchange of visits by prime ministers of the two
countries in the last two years.
In his speeches in different
programmes, the Indian President reiterated that India always attached high
priority to its relations with Nepal. He said that it was the main message as
he greeted the people of Kathmandu on the occasion of his civic felicitation on
Nov. 3.
He kept on repeating that India always
stood by Nepal in its development efforts.
"Together we can and must achieve
the full potential of our over-expanding mutually beneficial cooperation. We
have together prioritised some areas of our common interest – including trade,
mutual investments, defense and security, agriculture, hydro-power,
infrastructure development and connectivity projects," President Mukherjee
said in his speech at the State Banquet.
In a meeting with his Nepalese
counterpart President Bhandari immediately after his arrival in Kathmandu,
Indian President Mukherjee welcomed the new constitution and its implementation
process despite the fact that India had only 'noted' the promulgation of the
new constitution in September last year.
Talking to media persons in Pokhara the
Indian president said that he was touched by the hospitality he had received in
Nepal.
Addressing the ex-servicemen of the
Indian Army in Pokhara on Friday afternoon, he remarked that all ex-servicemen
were the foundation of the friendship between Nepal and India.
President Mukherjee was awarded an
Honorary D. Litt. by the Kathmandu University while the Kathmandu Metropolitan
City and Janakpur Sub-metropolitan City organised civic felicitation programmes
and presented Letter of Felicitation to him.
During his stay, President Mukherjee
held meetings with Vice-president Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister Pushpa
Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', ministers, former President Dr Ram Bran Yadav and
leaders of various political parties as well as civil society. He also
performed poojas at the Pashupatinath Temple and the Janaki Temple.
Concluding his state visit, President
Mukherjee flew home on Friday evening. President Bhandari, VP Pun, PM
Prachanda, DPM Nidhi, Foreign Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat, among other
ministers and high government officers bid farewell to the Indian President as
they had welcomed him upon his arrival.
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