Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari to visit India next month

KATHMANDU: Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari will visit India from April 17, her first official foreign trip after assuming office in 2015.

The President's Office has confirmed her India visit, though the detail itinerary of the visit is yet to be made public.

Bhandari, Nepal's first woman President, is visiting India at the invitation of her Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee.

During the visit, she will meet President Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other leaders from the ruling and opposition parties, said Madan Kumar Bhattarai, foreign relations adviser to Bhandari.

Bhandari will also visit Varanasi, where she will attend a function at the Banaras Hindu University.

"Some agreements as a gesture of friendly relations between Nepal and India is likely to be sealed during her visit," Bhattarai said.

Bhandari was scheduled to visit India in May last year, but it was cancelled after the then cabinet did not endorse the visit programme citing lack of preparations on the part of the government.

The bilateral ties between the two countries had faced turbulence last year due to the Madhesi agitation and subsequent blockade which halted the supply of essential goods to landlocked Nepal from India.

Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin, had been demanding the new Constitution be amended to include their concerns about adequate political representation and redrawing of federal boundaries.