New Delhi, June 7: India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar met virtually with his Nepali counterpart Shishir Khanal on Saturday. During the meeting, Dr. Jaishankar announced the transfer of 72 health facilities and 12 cultural heritage projects to Nepal as part of the reconstruction program following the 2015 earthquake.
After the meeting, Dr. Jaishankar shared on social media platform X, “Following a productive meeting with Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal, we have virtually handed over 72 health facilities and 12 cultural heritage projects under the reconstruction program post the 2015 earthquake.”
He also mentioned the launch of a linkage between the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and the National Payments Interface of Nepal to facilitate cross-border personal remittances.
Both leaders exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaboratively develop a National Digital Infrastructure for a ‘Voice First’ language translation platform for Nepal, in partnership with Digital India Bhashani and Kathmandu University.
Dr. Jaishankar reiterated India’s commitment to working with Nepal for the mutual progress, prosperity, and welfare of both nations.
The discussions also covered the India-Nepal partnership, focusing on development cooperation, connectivity, energy—especially hydropower development—education, health, capacity building, digital initiatives, culture, and sports.
In his opening remarks during the meeting with Khanal, Dr. Jaishankar emphasized the unique relationship between India and Nepal, built on strong ties among people, cross-border connections, and shared cultural and religious traditions. He stated, “This relationship is based on mutual trust, goodwill, and shared benefits. Our trade relations, commerce, investment, energy, development cooperation, education, disaster response, and culture have been continuously growing.”
He added, “Today, we have an opportunity to advance this in various other sectors, such as startups, AI, information technology, renewable energy, and other new domains. We work together to maintain security along our long and open border.”
Highlighting the longstanding unity between the two countries, Dr. Jaishankar noted that India has ensured uninterrupted fuel supply to Nepal amid ongoing crises in the West Asian region.
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