Foreign Minister Rana in Delhi, Oli's India visit on agenda?

Kathmandu, December 19 — Foreign Minister Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba arrived in Delhi, India, this morning. She was welcomed at the airport by officials from the Nepali Embassy in India and the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.

She reached Delhi after completing her visit to Europe. She had departed from Germany to India yesterday.

Minister Deuba is in India to attend a conference organized by the Nepal Contemporary Study Center and the Foundation for Economic Growth and Welfare (EGROW) of India, which is scheduled for tomorrow, December 20.

In addition to participating in the conference, she will also undergo a health checkup.

She has made arrangements to meet with Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar. However, the timing of the meeting has not yet been finalized.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is coordinating with both the Indian Embassy in Nepal and the Nepali Embassy in India regarding the meeting schedule.

There has been ongoing speculation about Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's visit to India, and Minister Arzu’s visit comes amid that. This is her second visit to India as Foreign Minister.

Earlier, she was formally invited by Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar for a visit to India for a health checkup, which she had accepted. During that visit, she met with high-ranking officials including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar.

During that visit, Minister Arzu had extended an invitation to Indian Prime Minister Modi to visit Nepal. However, as expected, India did not extend an invitation for Prime Minister Oli’s visit to India. After this, Prime Minister Oli visited China from December 2 to 5, and upon his return, he publicly expressed his desire to visit India. However, India has not yet extended an invitation.

There is now an expectation that following Foreign Minister Arzu’s visit to India, Prime Minister Oli's visit may also be scheduled.

Before traveling to India, Foreign Minister Arzu had visited Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Germany. After addressing a conference on the rights of sexual and gender minorities in Germany, she flew to Delhi yesterday.

She had returned from a visit to China on December 5 and left for Europe on December 7. She was scheduled to return to Nepal on December 20, but she unexpectedly flew from Europe to India.

Minister Arzu is expected to return to Nepal on December 22. The subject of her visit to India has been discussed between Amrit Bahadur Rai, Acting Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Prasanna Srivastava, the Chargé d'Affaires at the Indian Embassy in Nepal.

Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Naveen Srivastava, has been in Delhi for the past few days.