India and Nepal working on PM Balen Shah visit in November

India and Nepal are coordinating to schedule Prime Minister Balen Shah's visit to India in November, according to sources. This comes six months into Nepal's new government led by Shah, who had initially decided against foreign trips for a year.

Nepal's Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle recently met with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. Jaishankar's post on X revealed that both sides discussed strengthening cooperation in economic, energy, and connectivity areas.

Wagle's visit aimed to prepare the ground for Shah's upcoming India trip. The two countries agreed to prioritize cross-border connectivity, transmission infrastructure, and clean-energy cooperation. Nepal aims to generate 35,000 megawatts of power over the next nine years through run-of-river and storage projects.

Nepal seeks increased Indian investment across various sectors, including digitalization, high-value agriculture, green manufacturing, and tourism. There are also opportunities for production-sharing agreements. They discussed updating their trade treaty to cover services, investment protection, profit repatriation, and the movement of parts and components.

This visit follows the devastating August 26 flash flood, which left at least 270 Indians missing. Wagle, the most experienced minister in the Nepalese cabinet, focused on post-disaster reconstruction and economic recovery during his two-day meeting with key officials. The goodwill from India's humanitarian aid, delivering about 95 tonnes of relief material and disaster supplies, also helped ease tensions.