Kathmandu, (Samajweekly) Nepal’s Defence Minister Hari Prasad Upreti on Sunday left on a five-day visit to India, during which he will attend the Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru.
This is the first high-level visit to India from Nepal after the formation of Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda led government.
According to Nepal Defence Ministry spokesman, Nepal, a team led by Upreti is visiting India at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh. During the visit, besides other issues, there will be discussions on military and security cooperation between Nepal and India, and resumption of Agnipath recruitment from Nepal that has been halted since last year of August among others.
After recruitment under Agnipath caused a controversy in Nepal by some sections saying that the new Indian Army recruitment plan violates the 1947 tripartite agreement, the then government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba had communicated to New Delhi that the new government would take necessary decisions in this respect. After Deuba government handed over the responsibility to the new government formed in December 25, now it is up to the government led by Prachanda to take a call.
Aero India, which is called the largest air exhibition in Asia, has been held since 1996. However, the Chief of Army Staff has not yet participated in any of the programme.
The Ministry of Defence said that Upreti and his Indian counterpart will hold talks on the sideline of the expo.
Aero India 2023 will witness participation by more than 80 countries, while ministers of about 30 countries and 65 CEOs of global and Indian OEMs are likely to participate in it. The exhibition will witness the participation of more than 800 defence companies including around 100 foreign and 700 Indian companies.
