Indian Foreign Secretary Bikram Misri has handed over a formal invitation letter to Prime Minister Oli, but the date of the visit has not yet been decided.
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As the official date of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's visit to India has not yet been decided, confusion has increased about the visit. Prime Minister Niwas Baluwatar announced on July 4 that Prime Minister Oli's visit to India will be on August 31 and October 1. But it is not yet certain whether the visit will be held on that date. Both the countries have not officially announced the date of the visit.
India's Foreign Secretary Bikram Misri, who came to Kathmandu on August 1, handed over a formal invitation to Prime Minister Oli on behalf of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The invitation did not mention the date of the visit. But before that, Baluwatar had announced the date of the visit. The foreign source said, "The Prime Ministers of both countries have been invited through diplomatic channels to visit on a convenient date."
Indian media The Print has claimed that there is little possibility of Oli's visit on the date announced by the Nepali side on Thursday. It has been written in the news that there is a problem regarding the proposed date of the tour publicized in the Nepali media.
An official preparing for the Prime Minister's visit said that the news cannot be denied. The date has not been officially announced yet. "Bilateral discussions are going on," he said, adding, "The visit will take place on a date convenient for both the Prime Ministers." He clarified that there is no doubt about the Prime Minister's visit to India and necessary preparations are being made for that. "The announced date is not official, so it is wrong to say that the tour date has been moved or the tour has been cancelled," the official told Kantipur.
Regarding the Prime Minister's visit to India, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lok Bahadur Chhetri, said, 'The Indian Foreign Secretary has returned after handing over the invitation letter for the visit. Work is being done to decide a suitable date for the visit.'' Spokesperson Chhetri's statement also shows that the date of the visit has not been fixed in the invitation letter handed over by Indian Secretary Misri.
When he went to China to participate in the Shanghai Summit, there was a brief informal meeting between Oli and Modi in Tianjin last Sunday. As 14 months have passed since Oli became the Prime Minister, he has not been able to visit India.
Last time, Nepal strongly objected to the agreement between India and China to trade through the Lipulekh Pass. Prime Minister Oli also expressed dissatisfaction in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping saying that Lipulek is Nepal's land. In the meeting with Xi last Saturday, Oli asked to cancel the agreement made with India.
It is assumed that India may have been dissatisfied due to Oli's opposition to the agreement between India and China. A kind of analysis is being done that India may want to postpone Oli's visit. However, a Nepali diplomat who was in dialogue with the Indian official denied that India was in favor of the Prime Minister not visiting India for that reason.
This issue is not new. "Both sides have their own positions on this," said the official to Kantipur, "Indian officials have also understood the same." Therefore, it is not seen from their conversation that they will stop the Prime Minister's visit. The date of the visit is under discussion.'
