Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will visit Thailand on April 1 for a five-day visit to the Southeast Asian country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the visit in a statement on Wednesday. This will be the first-ever official visit by a Nepali prime minister to Thailand.

During the visit, the prime minister will hold official talks with his Thai counterpart Paetongtarn Shinawatra and discuss various areas of bilateral relations, the foreign ministry said. According to senior foreign ministry officials, some agreements/memoranda of understanding will be signed between the two countries and the private sectors of Nepal and Thailand.

Following the official bilateral engagements, the prime minister will lead a Nepali delegation to the Sixth Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) to be hosted by Thailand. The prime minister will address the summit on April 4.

Bimstec, established in 1997, is a pivotal organisation fostering regional cooperation between South and Southeast Asia. It comprises seven member states—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Thailand chairs the grouping for the 2022-2024 period until the handover from the upcoming summit. Bimstec aspires to achieve a “prosperous, resilient, and open region known as pro-Bimstec” by 2030.

The prime minister is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Bimstec member states on the summit’s sidelines.

The prime minister will be accompanied by Arzu Rana Deuba, minister for foreign affairs; Bishnu Prasad Rimal, chief advisor to the prime minister; Yuba Raj Khatiwada, economic and development advisor to the prime minister and high-ranking government officials, among others.

The prime minister will return home on April 5.