KATHMANDU: Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle departed for a three-day official visit to India on Thursday.
He left from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on the 7:35 a.m. flight to New Delhi.
The visit will focus on discussions regarding post-disaster reconstruction and various dimensions of economic, political, and diplomatic cooperation between Nepal and India. According to the schedule, Minister Wagle is set to meet with his Indian counterpart, Nirmala Sitharaman, on Thursday at 5:00 p.m.
On Friday morning at 9:00 a.m., he will participate as a chief guest in a high-level diplomatic dialogue organized by former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran. Later that day, at 5:00 p.m., he is scheduled to hold a meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar. At 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Wagle will attend a large-scale networking event hosted by Javed Ashraf, chairman of the India Trade Promotion Organisation.
On Saturday at 9:30 a.m., Minister Wagle will serve as a keynote speaker at a conference with representatives of prominent industrial houses, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry. Following this, at 11:30 a.m., he will attend an academic discussion on development economics organized by the Delhi School of Economics. He is scheduled to return to Nepal on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
The delegation accompanying the finance minister includes Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Amrit Lamsal, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gehendra Rajbhandari, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi Dr. Surendra Thapa, Minister (Economic) Taranath Adhikari, and the finance minister’s personal deputy secretary Kanchan Basnet.
