Kathmandu

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will be arriving Nepali capital on August 17 for a two-day visit to lay ground for Nepali PM KP Sharma Oli's planned visit to India.

Two officials from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nepal confirmed to ANI that Foreign Secretary Misri will be landing Kathmandu on August 17 in invitation of Nepali counterpart.

"Foreign Secretary Misri will arrive Kathmandu on August 17 (Sunday) for a two-day visit. Nepali side had sent the invitation last month. It came from the Nepali Foreign Secretary and the preparations for the visit has started," an official from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu confirmed ANI.

During the visit, the two sides are will be discussing about progress on various Indian funded projects as well as the upcoming visit of Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to India.

"It is the continuation of the regular exchange of visits between two friendly neighbors. Indian Foreign Secretary will be bringing in the formal invitation for Prime Minister's visit to India. We are working with Indian side in the preparation for the visit," a high level official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed ANI.

This will be the second visit of Indian Foreign Secretary to Nepal in a year. Misri was in Nepal on August last year on two-day visit.

Within a month of Misri's visit to Nepal, Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is expected to visit India for a two-day visit on September. Oli's visit to India is expected to start from August 16 for two-day. But the officials involved in the preparation of Misri's visit to Nepal has hinted that the visit might be extended by a day or two.

"Nepali Prime Minister's visit to India on September might be extended by a day or two, which evidently will be clear after the visit of Indian Foreign Secretary," the official from the Foreign Minister added.

Oli, who assumed office in July last year for the fourth time, has not yet made an official visit to India. He chose China for his maiden foreign visit, breaking the traditional practice of visiting India first after taking office.

ALSO READ: 10 things that changed in J&K after the abrogation of Article 370

In April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Oli on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok. The two leaders reviewed bilateral ties and expressed satisfaction over progress in areas such as energy, connectivity, and people-to-people linkages.