India envoy Naveen Srivastava bids farewell, reviews Nepal ties with Khanal
India's outgoing Ambassador to Nepal, Naveen Srivastava, met Nepal Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal in Kathmandu on Wednesday for a farewell call as he prepares to conclude his tenure. During the meeting, he conveyed his appreciation for Khanal's continued support in strengthening the many areas of bilateral ties between the two countries.
The meeting also reviewed progress in the India-Nepal partnership, including energy, infrastructure connectivity and people-to-people links. Khanal, meanwhile, thanked India for its solidarity and quick disaster relief assistance after the flash floods in the Bhotekoshi River region, and congratulated Srivastava on completing his tenure.
Srivastava met Khanal at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singhdurbar, Kathmandu. In a post on X after the meeting, he said, "Honoured to call on Hon. Foreign Minister Mr Shisir Khanal for a farewell meeting. Conveyed appreciation for his continued support for strengthening multifaceted ties." The Indian envoy recalled that significant progress had been made in recent years in deepening the bilateral partnership across sectors such as energy, infrastructure connectivity and people-to-people linkages.
According to Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Khanal thanked India for its solidarity and swift disaster relief assistance to Nepal after the devastating flash floods in the Bhotekoshi River, including support for search, rescue and relief operations. The flash floods, triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, left nearly 1,400 dead and more than 5,000 missing.
Khanal also congratulated Srivastava on the successful completion of his tenure and appreciated his efforts to further deepen Nepal-India relations. Nepal's Foreign Ministry said, "He highlighted major milestones in energy cooperation, trade, and infrastructure connectivity as well as people-to-people relations." Khanal extended his best wishes to the ambassador for his future endeavours and said he was confident that Srivastava would continue to remain a good friend of Nepal. For his part, Srivastava thanked the Government of Nepal for the support and cooperation extended to him during his tenure and said he hoped Nepal-India relations would continue to flourish in the days ahead, the ministry added.
Srivastava has served as India's Ambassador to Nepal since June 2022. He also paid a farewell call on Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai. On that occasion, Rai appreciated the ambassador's contribution to strengthening Nepal-India relations and acknowledged his active role in achieving progress in energy, cross-border infrastructure and people-to-people relations, according to Nepal's Foreign Ministry. He also extended his best wishes for Srivastava's future endeavours. The meetings marked the close of Srivastava's tenure and underlined the focus on energy, connectivity, trade and close people-to-people ties in India-Nepal relations.
