Following a nine-month-long hiatus in dialogue, officials from Nepal and India are preparing to take part in a meeting to discuss progress made in India-funded projects in Nepal, in Kathmandu on August 17.

The eighth meeting of the Nepal-India Oversight Mechanism has been seen as a first step towards easing a standoff between the two countries triggered by a boundary dispute, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kathmandu confirmed.

“We don’t have alternatives to talks,” said Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Gyawali. “We can’t hold our entire ties hostage to the differences over the boundary issue,” he told the Post.

The meeting of the mechanism, set up after then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s state visit to India in September 2016, oversees the implementation of bilateral projects and takes necessary steps to complete them within the stipulated deadline.

While Shanker Das Bairagi, Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is to lead the Nepali delegation to the talks, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra will head the Indian team.

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