India, Nepal to discuss resumpton of military supplies
Dated 9/6/2006
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New Delhi: India and Nepal Friday 'sorted out' issues relating to defence cooperation and agreed to discuss the resumption of military supplies by New Delhi to Kathmandu in greater detail at a joint committee meeting later this year.
'All issues relating to defence cooperation have been sorted out,' Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters after his meeting with visiting Nepal Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, whose four-day India visit ends Friday.
'Very soon, our defence cooperation group, the joint consultative committee, which is an institutional arrangement, will be meeting and they will be discussing the expanding areas of cooperation,' Mukherjee said.
India suspended its military assistance to Nepal last year after a royal power grab by King Gyanendra. Subsequently, it resumed non-lethal military supplies in small measure.
New Delhi has, however, conveyed to Kathmandu it is ready to consider the resumption of full military supplies if the latter asks for it.
Mukherjee also reiterated India's support for peace negotiations between the new Nepali government and Maoist rebels. 'We welcome the process of consolidation of democratic forces in Nepal. They (the Nepali government) are engaged in talks (with Maoists) and we hope they would find an amicable solution,' he said.
The meeting with Mukherjee was the last official engagement of Koirala as he wrapped up a four-day visit to India that started Tuesday evening with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a departure from protocol, going personally to receive the patriarch of Nepali politics.
The octogenarian leader will leave for Kathmandu later in the evening with a hefty aid package from India and a fresh assurance about New Delhi's commitment to long-term political stability and economic development of the Himalayan state.
New Delhi is planning to provide $21.7 million for Nepal's immediate needs, and is likely to pledge at least twice that amount for the Himalayan state's long-term development, including building roads, bridges and railroads, sources told IANS. The details of the package will be announced later in the evening.
