Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande to visit Nepal next month

Chief of Army Staff Gen Manoj Pande will travel to Nepal on September 4 on a five-day visit to explore ways to boost overall strategic ties between the two countries. The Army chief is scheduled to hold extensive talks with the top civilian and military brass of Nepal including his counterpart Gen Prabhuram Sharma on key issues relating to military cooperation during the visit from September 4 to 8, official sources said on Tuesday.

In continuation of an age-old tradition that started in 1950, Gen Pande will be conferred with the honorary rank of "General of the Nepal Army" by Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari at an event in Kathmandu.

India also confers the honorary rank of "General of Indian Army" to the Nepal Army Chief.


Nepal is important for India in the context of its overall strategic interests in the region, and the leaders of the two countries have often noted the age-old "Roti Beti" relationship.

The country shares a border of over 1850 km with five Indian states - Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Land-locked Nepal relies heavily on India for the transportation of goods and services. Nepal's access to the sea is through India, and it imports a predominant proportion of its requirements from and through India.

The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 forms the bedrock of the special relations between the two countries.