Army Chief Manoj Pande Arrives In Kathmandu On Four-day Visit To Nepal

Army Chief, General Manoj Pande on Monday reached Nepal on his four-day official visit and he will meet the President, Prime Minister and the Chief of the Army Staff.

Earlier Indian Army tweeted, “General Manoj Pande proceeded on a four-day visit to Nepal. The visit will provide an opportunity to enhance existing bilateral defence ties and strengthen cooperation in areas of mutual interest."

His visit comes amid Nepal’s concerns over the Agnipath scheme. However, “We have been recruiting Gorkha soldiers into the Indian Army for a long time and we look forward to continuing recruiting Gorkha soldiers into the Indian Army under the Agnipath scheme”, an MEA spokesperson said in a press briefing. 

Expectedly, the Agnipath scheme is mainly to be pointed out in the Army Chief’s meeting with officials. A week ago, Nepal postponed a recruitment drive for the Indian Army in Butwal.

Continuing a tradition of friendship between both armies, the Indian Army Chief will be conferred with the honorary rank of General of Nepal Army on Monday at Sital Nivas, the official residence President of Nepal.

He will pay homage to the fallen soldiers and have interactions with the senior leadership of the Nepali Army. During his visit, he will also interact with the student officers and faculty of the Nepali Army Command and Staff College Shivpuri. 

In another development, Nepal has handed over the West Seti Hydroelectric Project and the Seti River Project to India for development. Following this, the Nepal Investment Board signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India's state-owned NHPC Limited to develop two projects-West Seti and Seti River (SR6).