Nepal Prime Minister to visit India in August

Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, Jun 21 (PTI) Nepal's new Prime Minister
Madhav Kumar Nepal will visit India in August, delaying the
proposed trip by a month apparently due to political hurdles
in the expansion of his cabinet.

Kumar was earlier scheduled to visit India in July
before the summit of Non-Aligned Movement in Egypt, on his
first overseas trip after assuming office, but the programme
has been delayed by a month, Foreign Ministry sources said.

One of the major agendas of India's Foreign Secretary
Shivshankar Menon's visit to Nepal was to work out the dates
for Madhav Kumar's visit. Menon formally handed over an
invitation from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Kumar.

The schedule of the visit was apparently changed due to
delay in expansion of the 22-party coalition government.

The government replacing a Maoist-led coalition is yet
to take its full shape over a month after Kumar assumed
office.

Nepal Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala will visit India
before the Prime Minister's visit in early August to prepare
for the PM's visit, sources close to Koirala told PTI.

The Foreign Minister will later also accompany the Prime
Minister during his visit to New Delhi, but will also visit
India prior to that to prepare the ground, sources said.

However, the exact dates for the visit are being worked
out. PTI SBP