New Delhi, June 7 (IANS) Hailing ties between Nepal and India, visiting Nepal Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said on Sunday that the two nations share a “wonderful relationship” but noted that they have more opportunities to engage in terms of better cooperation in connectivity, tourism, and the energy sector.

In an interview with IANS, Khanal stated that India and Nepal have “historical and good relationship”. He stated that he expects more high-level visits on both sides.

The Nepalese minister is currently on a three-day visit to India, his first after assuming office earlier this year.

On how he assesses ties between India and Nepal, Khanal said: “We have a really good relationship. It’s a historical relationship. It’s a very multi-dimensional nature from tourism, from our river system, our water, our energy, and our families are connected. So, we’ve always had wonderful relationships with India. But we do see more opportunity for us to engage. We want to build whatever we have historically, we want to work to build our relationship in terms of better cooperation in connectivity, in the energy sector, in trade and tourism.”

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Saturday handed over 72 health facilities and 12 cultural heritage projects to Nepal under the Reconstruction programme post 2015 earthquake, after the meeting with Khanal.

Both leaders also witnessed the exchange of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Digital India Bhashini and Kathmandu University for co-creating the National Digital Infrastructure for a ‘Voice First’ Language Translation platform for Nepal.

Asked when Nepal PM Balendra Shah plans to visit India, Khanal said: “There’s no specific date fixed, but I do expect the highest-level visits on both sides because through my visit, it has started. So, we expect this to continue over the next several months.”

When asked about recent remarks of the Nepal PM on the India-Nepal boundary issue, Khanal said, “My ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has already clarified. The Prime Minister was responding to a question on what is called a cross-border occupation. So, we’ve made that clarification already.”

Recently, Balen Shah claimed that Nepal has encroached on Indian territory. However, he did not disclose any details about where Nepal had encroached upon Indian land.

Shah was responding to local lawmakers who had questioned him about India’s alleged encroachment of the disputed regions of Limpiyadhura, Lipulek, and Kalapani. Both Nepal and India claim sovereignty over these areas, though the region has been effectively under Indian control for decades.

“After becoming Prime Minister, I came to know that not only has India encroached on Nepal’s land, but Nepal has also encroached on India’s land in multiple places,” Shah said.

“Both sides should sit down and look into the matter.”

Shah also stated that Nepal engaged in diplomatic discussions with China and the United Kingdom regarding the border dispute with India.

In a statement issued later, the Nepali government said the PM’s comments were connected to technical studies conducted in border areas where citizens of one country have been using or occupying land that technically falls within the territory of the other country.

“The matter mentioned by the Prime Minister in Parliament was primarily related to encroachment in the no-man’s land area and cross-border occupation,” the statement said.

Nepal’s Foreign Ministry noted that due to the “Fixed Boundary Principle” adopted in river boundary areas, situations have emerged in some places where Nepali citizens cultivate or reside on land technically located on the Indian side, while Indian citizens use land falling within Nepal’s territory.

–IANS

akl/vd