Source: Nepal needs China, but India crucial: Prachanda
Agencies
NEW DELHI: Nepal wants to develop relations with neighboring China, but its age-old ties with India remain crucial, the Nepali Maoist prime minister said yesterday. India appeared miffed after Prime Minister Prachanda traveled to China last month for the Olympics closing ceremony, departing from a tradition which has seen incoming Nepali leaders make New Delhi their first foreign port of call.
The move was seen in New Delhi as an attempt by the Maoist-led government to embrace Communist China at the expense of its long-standing friendship with India. The Maoists won a historic election and came to power following a landmark peace deal signed in 2006 with the government to abolish the countrys 239-year-old monarchy and declare Nepal a republic.
On his first visit to India as prime minister, Prachanda said he wanted to reaffirm Nepals commitment to age-old ties and the need to forge a stronger relationship with India.
I think that due to our historical, cultural and geographical relations, due to our whole tradition of inter-dependence, the relation with India is crucial and vital, Prachanda said in New Delhi. Although we also want to develop a relation with China, but it cannot be compared right now, no questions of comparison.
Addressing an India-Nepal business meeting in the capital, Prachanda said Nepal was ready to invite investments from India, particularly in the hydropower sector. We would like to start afresh ... big projects should be undertaken, not petty projects in the hydropower sector, he said.
The visit by Prachanda was planned to redefine relations between the neighboring countries. Bilateral ties are strained over the flooding of the Kosi River that flows from the Himalayan country into Indias Bihar state.
Prachanda met with President Pratibha Patil and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the start of a five-day visit to India. Bilateral issues including enhancing economic cooperation were the focus of the discussions, an Indian Foreign Ministry official said.
The talks with the external affairs minister laid the groundwork for the main meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Nepalese leader later yesterday, he added.
Singh and Prachanda were to hold wide-ranging talks and review a 1950 bilateral Trade and Transit Treaty which the Nepalese leader wants to replace with a new one that would be more favorable to Katmandu.
Agencies
NEW DELHI: Nepal wants to develop relations with neighboring China, but its age-old ties with India remain crucial, the Nepali Maoist prime minister said yesterday. India appeared miffed after Prime Minister Prachanda traveled to China last month for the Olympics closing ceremony, departing from a tradition which has seen incoming Nepali leaders make New Delhi their first foreign port of call.
The move was seen in New Delhi as an attempt by the Maoist-led government to embrace Communist China at the expense of its long-standing friendship with India. The Maoists won a historic election and came to power following a landmark peace deal signed in 2006 with the government to abolish the countrys 239-year-old monarchy and declare Nepal a republic.
On his first visit to India as prime minister, Prachanda said he wanted to reaffirm Nepals commitment to age-old ties and the need to forge a stronger relationship with India.
I think that due to our historical, cultural and geographical relations, due to our whole tradition of inter-dependence, the relation with India is crucial and vital, Prachanda said in New Delhi. Although we also want to develop a relation with China, but it cannot be compared right now, no questions of comparison.
Addressing an India-Nepal business meeting in the capital, Prachanda said Nepal was ready to invite investments from India, particularly in the hydropower sector. We would like to start afresh ... big projects should be undertaken, not petty projects in the hydropower sector, he said.
The visit by Prachanda was planned to redefine relations between the neighboring countries. Bilateral ties are strained over the flooding of the Kosi River that flows from the Himalayan country into Indias Bihar state.
Prachanda met with President Pratibha Patil and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the start of a five-day visit to India. Bilateral issues including enhancing economic cooperation were the focus of the discussions, an Indian Foreign Ministry official said.
The talks with the external affairs minister laid the groundwork for the main meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Nepalese leader later yesterday, he added.
Singh and Prachanda were to hold wide-ranging talks and review a 1950 bilateral Trade and Transit Treaty which the Nepalese leader wants to replace with a new one that would be more favorable to Katmandu.
