Prime Minister KP Oli and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi met for almost 45 minutes on Friday in Bangkok on the sidelines of the sixth Bimstec summit and thus cleared the logjam at the highest political level.

Oli, who had been unable to secure a bilateral official visit to India due to his anti-India posturing since becoming prime minister last July, appeared cheerful after meeting Modi.

After the meeting, both prime ministers wrote about the positive outcomes of the visit, on their respective X accounts.

Without the presence of a third individual, Oli and Modi held one-on-one talks for 30 minutes and later briefed their delegations, multiple Nepali officials who are currently in Bangkok told the Post over the phone.

“Oli appeared happy and cheerful after his meeting with Modi,” a Nepali official who is part of the official Nepali delegation, said. “The prime minister told us his meeting with Modi went well—and he seemed pleased.”

“We concluded that the two leaders discussed some of the most salient bilateral issues,” the Nepali official said. “They discussed the latest status of our bilateral ties ranging from the ongoing pro-Hindu and pro-royalist movement in Nepal to the boundary dispute, development cooperation and, most importantly, the strained ties between Oli and New Delhi.”

After the meeting, Oli shared with some of his delegation members that his long awaited India visit could happen before the Sagarmatha Sambad slated to take place on May 16-19. But Oli did not share details about the possible visit, its date, and what exactly transpired between him and Modi.

The body language of the prime minister was positive, said the official. “It looks like the meeting was able to narrow down the differences between Oli and the Indian establishment, as our prime minister tried to dispel the negative perceptions.”

“In a nutshell, as per our brief conversation with the prime minister, both the sides seemed keen to work together by addressing each other's strategic and mutual concerns,” the Nepali official told the Post.

“Had a productive meeting with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in Bangkok,” Modi wrote in X. “India attaches immense priority to relations with Nepal.”

“We discussed different aspects of India-Nepal friendship, especially in sectors like energy, connectivity, culture and digital technology. We also talked about some of the key positive outcomes from this year’s Bimstec Summit, especially in areas of disaster management and maritime transport,” said Modi.

The two leaders reviewed the unique and close relationship between India and Nepal, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement after the meeting. It said both expressed satisfaction at the progress in enhancing physical and digital connectivity, people-to-people linkages, and in the domain of energy.

“They agreed to continue working towards further deepening the multifaceted partnership between our two countries and peoples.”

Nepal is a priority partner of India under its Neighbourhood First Policy, said the Indian statement. “This meeting continues the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries.”

According to a report published in Swarajya Magazine, which is close to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, during the meeting with Oli, Prime Minister Modi would raise the issue of ending “the false rhetoric of border disputes between Nepal and India when no such disputes actually exist.”

“Modi is expected to tell Oli that while ties between the two countries are on an even keel and India is closely engaged with Nepal in multiple areas, an elevation of ties as desired by Oli will depend on his conduct,” said the magazine, regarded as BJP mouthpiece.

“Oli has practised a policy [like Yunus of Bangladesh] of playing its two big neighbours against each other. India can no longer tolerate this tendency of its smaller neighbours acting oversmart and playing off China against India. The present Modi government is firm on discouraging such misadventures. Oli will be given this message,” a senior officer at the Indian foreign ministry’s northern division, which deals with Nepal and Bhutan, told the magazine.

After the meeting, Oli visited the Nepali Embassy in Bangkok. He looked cheerful. Sources in Bangkok told the Post that Oli also invited Modi to the Sagarmatha Sambad as the chief guest.

“Oli wanted to clear some of the misunderstandings in Nepal-India relations, so both leaders, without the presence of a third individual, sat for one-one-one, which was necessary. Though the prime minister has not shared many details about his meeting with Modi, his body language suggested that he was able to successfully communicate the concerns of both sides. Fortunately the New York episode did not repeat this time,” the Nepali official said.

On the margins of the 79th United Nations General Assembly, both Oli and Modi held talks in New York, but that meeting had ended on a sour note—something Oli was careful to avoid this time.

As per the itinerary of the prime minister, it was mentioned that both Oli and Modi will meet for 20 minutes with six other delegates. But the agreed protocol was broken and both leaders ended up holding over 30 minutes of one-on-one. Later they briefly joined with their respective teams.

Oli, while attending an event at the Nepali Embassy in Thailand, said that his Thailand visit had turned out to be ‘historic’ and the Bimstec summit had become ‘hugely successful’.

Meanwhile, after Friday’s meeting, Oli took to Facebook saying, “With my dear friend, the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, we have a very cordial meeting today in Bangkok. Our conversation was very fruitful. We discussed various aspects of Nepal-India relations. Issues raised during the Bimstec summit, strengthening the bilateral relations to regional cooperation; this conversation will be very important to advance the bilateral and regional partnerships.”

Responding to Modi's post on X, Oli wrote, “We had a very cordial meeting which was very meaningful and positive.”