India and Nepal discussed important issues such as mutual security, capacity building needs of Nepal's defence forces and cooperation in disaster management. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the issues regarding the requirement of defence storage of Nepal's army were also discussed in the meeting of the 14th India-Nepal Bilateral Consultative Group on Security Matters.
The Indian side was led by Anurag Srivastava, Joint Secretary (North) in the ministry. The Nepalese delegation was led by Teerth Raj Wagle, Joint Secretary (South Asia), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nepal.
The delegation included officials from the Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs of both the countries. It also included representatives of the Indian Army and the Nepalese Army.
Nepal Army Chief General Prabhu Ram Sharma will be on a four-day visit to India next month. During this, he will meet his Indian counterpart General MM Naravane, the Chief of the Air Staff and the Chief of the Navy.
He will leave for New Delhi on November 9 on a four-day visit. On his arrival here, President Ram Nath Kovind will confer on him the rank of Honorary General of the Indian Army.
The Nepal cabinet on Thursday recommended the appointment of its new ambassadors to India, Britain and the US. On the basis of these recommendations, Shankar Sharma can be the new ambassador of Nepal to India.
Information Minister Gyanendra Karki told in a press conference that in a meeting of the Council of Ministers, Shankar Sharma was appointed in India, Gyan Chandra Acharya in Britain and Sridhar Khatri jointly has been recommended as ambassador to the state.
Khatri, a professor of political science, is an expert on foreign affairs, while Sharma is a former ambassador to the US.
Parliamentary hearings on the recommended ambassadors will be held in the coming month. The newly formed government of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has decided to recall all ambassadors appointed under the KP Sharma Oli-led administration on September 21.
Nepal has 33 diplomatic missions abroad. Career diplomats have been appointed as ambassadors to 10 different missions, with political appointments being made in the remaining 23 missions.
