NEW DELHI: Nepal and India discussed the contentious boundary issue during Friday’s joint commission meeting and have settled on a mechanism to solve the knotty problem, Nepal foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali said.
Speaking to a select audience at the Indian Council for World Affairs, Gyawali said he and foreign minister S Jaishankar took up the boundary issue. “However, there are issues that need to be sorted first, away from the public,” he added.
Gyawali said Nepal’s step of changing its map last year was linked to India’s decision to issue a new political map in November 2019. The maps were released following the re-organisation of J&K into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh and did not alter the international boundaries, India has said.
“We want to see a 21st century Nepal-India relationship, which is forward looking and founded on equality, mutual respect, justice and understanding of each other's concerns and sensitivities. For that, we should essentially attend to the issues that we have inherited from the past and address them appropriately,” Gyawali said.
He added that an Eminent Persons Group (EPG) had been set up to review the entire spectrum of bilateral ties, including the 1950 treaty of friendship. “We have agreed to revise and update the treaty to better reflect the current reality and to further consolidate and expand our friendship. We need to do it sooner than later,” he said.
Given the ups and downs of bilateral ties, Gyawali said both countries “should be mindful equally that healthy relations require continuous nurturing, creative thinking, promptness and readiness to understand each other in changing dynamics”.
Questioned about China, he said, "Nepal has always maintained a good relationship with both our neighbours. We never compare our relations with our friends. We've ensured that our soil won't be misused for the illegitimate interests of any neighbouring country.”