Narendra Modi to visit Nepal on Sunday

NEW DELHI: With neighbourhood being the priority of his foreign policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Nepal on Sunday on a two-day visit during which the two countries are expected to sign agreements in sectors like power and India may announce economic aid.

This will be the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Nepal in 17 years, after I K Gujral had travelled there in June 1997, signalling the resolve of the new government here to take the relations with that country to a higher level.

Modi will have talks with his Nepalese counterpart Sushil Koirala and get the honour of addressing that country's Constituent Assembly, only the second foreign leader after former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl who had done it in early 1990s.

He will also visit the famous Pashupatinath Temple where he is expected to participate in a special puja. Modi is also expected to meet leaders of various political parties.

During the trip, India is expected to announce economic assistance and the two sides are likely to sign pacts in sectors like power and culture, sources said but refused to divulge details.

Modi's visit comes just a week after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had travelled there.

This shows the "intention and priority that our Prime Minister places on the neighbourhood," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told reporters while briefing on the visit.

He recalled that Modi had undertaken his first foreign visit after becoming the Prime Minister to Bhutan.