India visit focused on building trust: Oli

Nepali Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli yesterday said that his upcoming India visit will be solely focused on building trust but he will not sign any agreement against his country’s national interest.He will embark on a state visit to India on Friday following an invitation from his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. “The Nepali government wishes to have balanced relations based on trust, friendship, equity and mutual interests with India as well as China. We intend to build up a reliable atmosphere and make the neighbours our development partners... and the visit is taking place in the same backdrop,” said Oli while delivering a speech in parliament.Oli said he will discuss with Modi about expatiating the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (Saarc) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Co-operation (Bimstec) like regional organisations as well as Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN) Initiative like sub-regional co-operation. “I will discuss matters like railways and waterways with India. Connectivity including railways, waterways, energy sector, minimising trade deficit, implementation of past agreements and modernisation of agriculture are prioritised in my visit,” he said.Oli said his visit aims to expedite past agreements with India and he will also address security concerns of India including cross boarder crime, terrorists threat and human trafficking.He said that he hopes the Nepal-India relations would reach a new height.Other issues to be discussed with India included agricultural modernisation of Nepal, increasing production and trade, connectivity, implementation of the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project, construction of integrated checkposts and a postal highway among others, said Oli.