The seventh edition of the Nepal-India joint commission at foreign minister level is all set to convene in Kathmandu on Thursday. Foreign Minister NP Saud and his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar will co-chair the meeting, where the two sides will discuss over three dozen different agendas and issues of mutual interest and concern.

At the meeting, the two sides are planning to ink two agreements, and the pair of foreign ministers will jointly inaugurate three cross-border transmission lines spanning Nepal and India.

The Indian side has already asked Nepal not to bring up some controversial issues during discussions.

In a recent meeting with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Foreign Minister Saud said that India is unwilling to discuss disputed issues like the report of the Eminent Persons' Group, the boundary dispute involving Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura, and the 1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty.

“We cannot drop our prime concerns even if there can be no agreements in this meeting. We should bring them to the table,” a minister said, describing the mood of the discussion between the prime minister and Saud, adding, “We will table them, but there might be no understanding on these issues.”

Even the prime minister has said that he will speak with the Indian ambassador, if needed, to continue discussions on these issues, which he had also discussed with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his India visit last year.

The issue of replacing the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Nepal and India has for long been a bone of contention. To chart out a new framework for Nepal-India relations, including recommendations on what to do with the treaty, the two countries had formed an Eminent Persons’ Group (EPG), which has already submitted its report in 2018.

Another unresolved issue pertains to boundary matters. There is now a ‘cartographic war’ following the publications of new maps by India and then Nepal, with each side’s map incorporating disputed territories including Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura. These areas have been under Indian control for several decades.

Later Prime Minister Dahal also discussed with some ministers the Indian “wish to avoid discussing disputed issues” where they gave their individual opinions and urged Minister Saud not to drop the agenda on boundary and other issues.

Prime Minister Dahal also emphasised on taking up these issues at the joint commission, even though an agreement on them is unlikely, the minister added.

Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is arriving in Kathmandu on Thursday morning leading the Indian delegation for the joint commission meeting. He will start his engagements by calling on President Ram Chandra Poudel at Sheetal Niwas, as per the itinerary.

On Wednesday, the foreign ministries of Nepal and India made an official announcement of Jaishankar’s visit to Kathmandu. He had earlier visited Kathmandu four years ago, in August 2019, to co-chair the fifth meeting of Nepal-Indian joint commission. The commission is the highest-level bilateral mechanism entrusted to discuss all matters of mutual concern.

“We are planning to ink two agreements and are going to inaugurate three cross-border transmission lines,” Saud told the Post on Wednesday, adding, “Besides these, we have over three dozen items of meeting agenda.”

Among other things, the meeting will discuss connectivity and economic partnership, trade and transit, power and water resources, culture and education, among other things. They will also bring up matters discussed and agreed upon during Dahal’s official visit to Delhi last year.

After the joint commission meeting, the two sides will sign a pair of agreements related to long-term energy cooperation and India’s proposal to increase funds for small development projects under the High-impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs).

During Dahal’s India visit last year, the two countries had agreed to sign a long-term agreement on energy, whereby India would import 10,000 megawatts from Nepal within ten years.

A team from the Ministry of Energy of India has arrived in Kathmandu to negotiate medium- and long-term energy agreements.

Gopal Sigdel, secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, and his Indian counterpart, Pankaj Agarwal, will on Thursday sign the long-term power trade between Nepal and India in the presence of the two foreign ministers.

Similarly, another agreement is related to allowing India to provide up to Rs200 million for small development projects under the scheme known as High-impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs).

Since 2003, according to the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, over 535 HICDPs have been taken up by the government of India of which 476 have been completed while 59 are ongoing, and the total cost of all projects is around NRs 11.55 billion. According to a bilateral arrangement, the scheme, which was launched in 2003, had to be renewed every three years. But after the renewal in 2014, no projects were executed until 2017. The scheme was extended in 2017, and again in 2020, with some amendments.

India has been building schools and hospitals and other small projects under it. The proposed adjustments are expected to address resource shortfalls for the execution of internal infrastructure projects or for the acquisition of necessary equipment for the projects, officials said.

Later, in 2011, the budget per project was increased from Rs30 million to Rs50 million and is now going to be raised to Rs200 million.

Ahead of the joint commission meeting, Jaishankar will call on Prime Minister Dahal.

After the joint commission meeting, Saud will host a lunch for Jaishankar and the Indian delegation. Jaishankar will also inaugurate the new building of the central library of Tribhuvan University in Kritipur and reconstruction projects funded by the government of India. Whether Jaishankar will visit Kirtipur or inaugurate the new building remotely remains uncertain.

The joint commission meeting will take up over three dozen issues including border and boundary, trade and commerce, cooperation in different fields, aviation, education, energy, projects related to connectivity road, railways, and inland waterways connectivity, infrastructure, and economic cooperation among others, according to officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“We will definitely raise the boundary dispute and also propose activating the boundary-related mechanism,” an official at the foreign ministry, said, adding, “All outstanding issues between Nepal and India including the EPG report, providing the air entry route to Nepal, among others will be tabled by the Nepali side.

Nepal will also propose setting up a joint committee at joint secretary-level to review the Nepal-India trade treaty, impose tax and customs duty on Indian agro products in Nepal, request quota-free access for Nepali products in the Indian market and removal of anti-dumping duty on Nepali jute and other items imposed by India. Also, Nepal will seek standard harmonisation certification for products manufactured by both sides, among others.

On the civil aviation sector, the two sides will discuss holding a technical coordination meeting for installing the instrument landing system at the Bhairahawa International Airport, seeking air entry route from Bhairawa, Nepalgunj and Mahendranagar, Indian approval for direct flights between Indian cities and Pokhara, seeking approval for Buddha Air to fly to Indian cities like Patana, Lucknow, Gaya, Dehradun, seeking approval for Himalayan Airlines to fly to India and flight permit for Nepal Airlines to operate flights between Bhairahawa and Delhi as well as Pokhara and Delhi.

The India-Nepal Joint Commission was established in 1987 and acts as a platform for the foreign ministers of the two countries to review all aspects of bilateral partnership, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in its statement.

Nepal is a priority partner of India under its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, said the statement, adding, “The visit is in keeping with the tradition of high level exchanges between two close and friendly neighbours.”

*Visit Schedule of External Affairs Minister of India*

*Thursday 04 Jan 2024*

1000 Arrival at TIA

1100 Meeting with President at Sheetal Niwas

1200 Meeting with PM at Baluwatar

1300 Meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs at Yak & Yeti

1315 JC Meeting at Yak & Yeti

1345 MoU Signing Ceremony

1400 Lunch hosted by MOFA at Yak & Yeti

1540 Meeting with Sher Bahadur Deuba

1630 Meeting with KP Sharma Oli

1815 Dinner at Hotel Soaltee

*05 Jan 2024 Friday*

0800 Visit Pashupatinath Temple

0900 Inauguration of Library & other Reconstruction work

1200 Departure for Delhi*