Prachanda on second trip to India

KATHMANDU: Nepalese Prime Minister Prachanda will undertake a second trip to India with a likely aim of boosting bilateral ties and to discuss issues like terrorism, trans-border organised crime and illegal drug trafficking.

Prachanda is scheduled to arrive in India on Wednesday on a three-day visit leading a Nepalese delegation to the second BIMSTEC Summit being held in New Delhi starting from November 13.

The second such summit is to deliberate on the different areas of cooperation under the framework of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), Foreign Ministry sources said.

Leaders from all the member countries-India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Myanmar and Thailand- will also take up the issues related to combating of global terrorism.

The establishment of BIMSTEC Secretariat as well as some BIMSTEC centres specialising on issues like energy, weather, climate and cultural industries will also come up during the summit and some regional agreements are also likely to be signed.

Prachanda will also meet leaders of other BIMSTEC member countries on the sidelines of the summit and hold talks on matters of bilateral and regional interests.

He will meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 12 and discuss various matters of bilateral interests between the two countries.

Prior to the summit, Minister for Foreign Affairs Upendra Yadav will lead the Nepalese delegation to the 11th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting to be held on November 12 and Foreign Secretary Gyan Chandra Acharya will lead a delegation to the 13th Senior Officials Meeting of the group.