<p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart in Kathmandu, K P Sharma Oli, spoke to each other over phone on Saturday – for the first time after Nepal ratcheted up its territorial dispute with India and the relations between the two neighbours soured.</p>.<p>Oli called Modi to greet him on behalf of the government and people of Nepal on the occasion of the 74th Independence Day of India. He also congratulated his counterpart in New Delhi for India’s recent election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for a two-year term, beginning January 2021.</p>.<p>Modi thanked Nepalese Prime Minister for his call. He also recalled the civilizational and cultural links between India and Nepal, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi.</p>.<p>The courtesy call from Kathmandu to New Delhi came almost three months after the Oli Government lodged protest over a new 80-kilometer-long road New Delhi built from Dharchula in Uttarakhand to the Lipulekh Pass – an India-Nepal-China tri-junction boundary point. It alleged that the road passed through Nepal – a claim dismissed by India. Kathmandu, however, went ahead, published a new map, which showed nearly 400 sq km of India’s areas in Kalapani, Lipulekh Pass and Limpiyadhura as part of Nepal. It also got the Nepalese Parliament amend the country’s constitution to endorse the new map.</p>.<p>New Delhi suspects that Beijing played a role in making the Oli Government ratchet up the India-Nepal territorial dispute – at a time when Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is engaged in a military stand-off along the disputed boundary between the two nations in eastern Ladakh.</p>.<p>Modi and Oli on Saturday also discussed “mutual solidarity” in the context of the efforts being made to minimise the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in both countries. The Prime Minister offered India’s continued support to Nepal to deal with the Covid-19 crisis, a spokesperson of the MEA said in New Delhi.</p>.<p>Oli lauded New Delhi’s “renewed priority to neighborhood” as spelt out in Modi’s speech on the occasion of the Independence Day of India. He conveyed to the Prime Minister that he looked forward to “meaningful bilateral cooperation”, according to a <a href="https://mofa.gov.np/press-release-on-telephone-conversation-between-the-prime-ministers-of-nepal-and-india-2/" target="_blank">press release</a> issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepalese Government.</p>.<p>The two leaders had last spoken to each other over phone on April 10, just a few weeks before Nepal protested against the new road built by India.</p>.<p>New Delhi's envoy to Kathmandu, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, is likely to hold a meeting with Nepalese Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi on Monday to review the progress of the development projects funded by the Government of India in the neighbouring country.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart in Kathmandu, K P Sharma Oli, spoke to each other over phone on Saturday – for the first time after Nepal ratcheted up its territorial dispute with India and the relations between the two neighbours soured.</p>.<p>Oli called Modi to greet him on behalf of the government and people of Nepal on the occasion of the 74th Independence Day of India. He also congratulated his counterpart in New Delhi for India’s recent election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for a two-year term, beginning January 2021.</p>.<p>Modi thanked Nepalese Prime Minister for his call. He also recalled the civilizational and cultural links between India and Nepal, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi.</p>.<p>The courtesy call from Kathmandu to New Delhi came almost three months after the Oli Government lodged protest over a new 80-kilometer-long road New Delhi built from Dharchula in Uttarakhand to the Lipulekh Pass – an India-Nepal-China tri-junction boundary point. It alleged that the road passed through Nepal – a claim dismissed by India. Kathmandu, however, went ahead, published a new map, which showed nearly 400 sq km of India’s areas in Kalapani, Lipulekh Pass and Limpiyadhura as part of Nepal. It also got the Nepalese Parliament amend the country’s constitution to endorse the new map.</p>.<p>New Delhi suspects that Beijing played a role in making the Oli Government ratchet up the India-Nepal territorial dispute – at a time when Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is engaged in a military stand-off along the disputed boundary between the two nations in eastern Ladakh.</p>.<p>Modi and Oli on Saturday also discussed “mutual solidarity” in the context of the efforts being made to minimise the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in both countries. The Prime Minister offered India’s continued support to Nepal to deal with the Covid-19 crisis, a spokesperson of the MEA said in New Delhi.</p>.<p>Oli lauded New Delhi’s “renewed priority to neighborhood” as spelt out in Modi’s speech on the occasion of the Independence Day of India. He conveyed to the Prime Minister that he looked forward to “meaningful bilateral cooperation”, according to a <a href="https://mofa.gov.np/press-release-on-telephone-conversation-between-the-prime-ministers-of-nepal-and-india-2/" target="_blank">press release</a> issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepalese Government.</p>.<p>The two leaders had last spoken to each other over phone on April 10, just a few weeks before Nepal protested against the new road built by India.</p>.<p>New Delhi's envoy to Kathmandu, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, is likely to hold a meeting with Nepalese Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi on Monday to review the progress of the development projects funded by the Government of India in the neighbouring country.</p>
