Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal is set to become the first Cabinet minister to travel abroad after the installation of the new government led by Balendra Shah on March 27.

Khanal will head for Mauritius on Thursday to attend the ninth Indian Ocean Conference, to be jointly organised by India's Ministry of External Affairs, the India Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank, and the Mauritian government.

The ministry is making necessary preparations for the foreign minister's participation in the conference, Lok Bahadur Poudel Chettri, the foreign ministry spokesperson, told the Post. The foreign minister is likely to address the conference and will meet several counterparts from Asia and Africa, including Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar.

The 9th Indian Ocean Conference (IOC) 2026 is scheduled to take place from April 10-12.

Focused on "Collective Stewardship for Indian Ocean Governance," the event will bring together leaders and experts to discuss regional cooperation, the official website of the organiser said.

The foreign minister will have an opportunity to meet with many regional leaders and ministers in the conference which will give him an opportunity to convey and communicate the policy and priorities of the new strong government of Nepal which others are also following with keen interest, said foreign ministry officials.

After completing briefings with various departments of the foreign ministry, Khanal, who assumed office on March 27, has started meeting diplomats from Monday. He met Indian ambassador Naveen Srivastava on Monday and discussed bilateral issues, the situation in West Asia stemming from the US-Iran war and supply of petroleum products and cooking gas, among other things. The Indian ambassador has assured that India will support Nepal in evacuating Nepali citizens from West Asia if needed and continue supplying petroleum products, said an official.

“Ambassador Srivastava also conveyed greetings from Minister of External Affairs of India @DrSJaishankar to Khanal on his appointment as the Foreign Minister of Nepal. Various matters relating to Nepal-India relations and cooperation were discussed on the occasion,” foreign ministry wrote on X.