Finance minister leaves for India on three-day official visit

KATHMANDU: Finance Minister Dr Swarnim Wagle departed for India today on a three-day official visit at the invitation of the Government of India.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the primary objective of the visit is to advance cooperation across various dimensions of economic, political, and diplomatic relations between the two countries, including post-disaster reconstruction.

During the visit, Minister Wagle is scheduled to hold talks with his Indian counterpart, Nirmala Sitharaman, today. He will subsequently meet with India's External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar, on Friday.

On Friday, Minister Wagle will attend a high-level diplomatic dialogue programme as the chief guest, hosted by former Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran. Furthermore, he will participate in a major interaction programme organised by Jawed Ashraf, Chairman of the India Trade Promotion Organisation.

The schedule for Saturday morning includes the Finance Minister delivering a keynote address at a conference with prominent industrial houses, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry. Later in the afternoon, he will be the chief guest at an academic discussion on development economics, organised by the Delhi School of Economics.

Minister Wagle is expected to return to Kathmandu on Saturday evening.

The official delegation accompanying the Finance Minister includes Amrit Lamsal, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Finance; Gehendra Rajbhandari, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Dr Surendra Thapa, Chargé d'Affaires at the Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi; Tara Nath Adhikari, Minister (Economic) at the Embassy; and Kanchan Basnet, Private Secretary to the Finance Minister.

(With inputs from RSS)