Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi arrived in Kathmandu on Wednesday on a five-day official visit. The five-member delegation, led by General Dwivedi, also includes Sunita Dwivedi, chairperson of the Army Wives Welfare Association of the Indian Army.

Upon arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport, the delegation was received by Major General Prem Dhoj Adhikari, head of the Department of Military Operations of Nepal Army, according to the Nepal Army Directorate of Public Relations and Information.

The Indian Embassy in Kathmandu said that General Dwivedi discussed issues concerning bilateral relations between the two countries with the Indian Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava later in the afternoon.

During the Nepal visit, President Ramchandra Paudel will confer General Dwivedi with the honorary rank of General of the Nepali Army at a special ceremony at the President’s Office on Thursday. Nepal and India have a long-standing tradition of honouring each other’s army chiefs with this honorary rank.

In addition to meeting President Paudel, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and his counterpart, General Sigdel Dwivedi is scheduled to visit several locations. The Indian Army is a significant military donor to Nepal.

General Dwivedi has been serving as the Indian Army Chief since June 30.

Ahead of his visit, Amrit Mohan Prasad, director general of India’s Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), visited Nepal to attend the eighth annual coordination meeting between SSB and Nepal’s Armed Police Force. During the two-day meeting that concluded on Monday, the two sides expressed concerns over the movement of third-country nationals through the Nepal-India border.