Kathmandu: The newly-appointed ambassador of India to Nepal, Naveen Srivastava has paid a courtesy visit to Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal. During the meeting held at the Ministry today, they discussed the mutual relations and cooperation between Nepal and India.

On the occasion, Minister Bhusal recalled that Nepal-India relations have moved forward with friendship, equality, cooperation and mutual respect and expressed confidence that the friendly relations between the two countries would be further deepened in the days to come. Stating that there has been significant cooperation between Nepal and India in the energy sector recently, he hoped for further expansion in the coming days.

Minister Bhusal said, “The current energy trade between Nepal and India is positive. India needs the clean energy we have. Therefore, Nepal is willing to move forward with a long-term electricity trade agreement in the coming days. I am confident of significant success in the electricity trade during my tenure.” She stressed the need to move ahead with the Pancheshwar Hydropower Project and actively implement the understanding between the two countries on the damage caused by the floods.

On the occasion, Ambassador Srivastava assured that he would do his best to further expand cooperation between the two countries. Mentioning that significant achievements have been made in the field of electricity trade in the last one year, he said, “In the last one-year, great success has been achieved in the electricity trade. The cooperation of both the governments in this is commendable” Assuring that he would continue to take initiatives for power generation and trade, he said, "Power trade is a beneficial issue for both the countries. We will continue to support it”.

The meeting was attended by Water Resources and Irrigation Secretary Sagar Kumar Rai, Joint Secretaries Baburam Bhandari and Chiranjeevi Chataut and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.