Nepal PM Balendra Shah meets Indian Ambassador, emphasises deepening historic ties

Nepal Prime Minister Belendra Shah held his first one-on-one meeting with Indian Ambassador Naveen Srivastava on Monday. He expressed to the diplomat the necessity to deepen his country’s "historic relationship" with India.

According to the Prime Minister's secretariat, Shah met the envoy at the Prime Minister’s Office in Singha Durbar and covered the two country’s bilateral relations, mutual interests, development partnership and areas of cooperation.

Srivastava congratulated the Nepalese Prime Minister and expressed commitment towards further strengthening relations and cooperation between the two countries.


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"Honoured to call on Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of Nepal (@ShahBalen) this morning. Conveyed warm greetings from Prime Minister Modi ji (@narendramodi). Had an engaging and productive exchange of views on further deepening robust, multifaceted India-Nepal partnership,” said Ambassador Srivastava in a post on X.

The Prime Minister emphasised the importance of deepening Nepal's “historic relationship” with India and working together in areas of shared interest, his secretariat said.

The meeting comes amidst an earlier policy by Shah to avoid one-on-one engagements with foreign ambassadors and senior visiting officials.

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He is also scheduled to meet Chinese Ambassador Zhang Maoming separately on Monday, whilst US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Scott Urbom is expected to meet him on Tuesday.

Shah even declined to meet the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Samir Paul Kapur and President Donald Trump’s special envoy for South and Central Asia Sergio Gor.

During a three day visit by Asian Development Bank President Masato Kanda, which began in July, the Prime Minister broke his self-imposed rule by holding a one-on-one meeting with the official.

He also did not undertake any visit to either India or China, instead Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal made repeated visits to New Delhi and Beijing in June.