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External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh on Saturday held wide-ranging discussions with a cross section of Nepali leaders on the entire gamut of bilateral relations and prospects of further consolidating them.
Singh, who arrived here on Friday on a three-day goodwill visit, began his engagement by meetings with former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala and agriculture minister Mahendra Acharya.
"I have come here as a friend of Nepal. I have also come as an ambassador of goodwill and to promote good relations between the two countries," he said.
Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said, "I feel honoured that India, a very friendly country, has sent its foreign minister to enhance our bilateral ties. I want India's support to reduce trade imbalance."
Soon after his arrival, Singh visited the famous Pashupatinath Temple.
Besides Deuba, who is also holding additional charge of foreign affairs, Singh would meet opposition leader Madhav Kumar Nepal.
This is the first high-level political contact with the new Nepalese leadership since the gunning down of King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and other members of the Royal family in the palace massacre on June 1.
Singh would call on Nepalese King Gyanendra on Sunday and express India's readiness to extend all possible cooperation to the Himalayan Kingdom.
India has stated in clear terms that it was interested in a strong and stable Nepal.
Meanwhile, India asserted that there was no threat of Lumbini in Nepal, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, being inundated by an embankment being built in Uttar Pradesh, close to the India-Nepal border.
"Any attempt to establish a linkage between the embankment and Lumbini is pernicious and mischievous," external affairs ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said.
Rao said Lumbini was located 12 km north of the embankment as the 'crow flies' and the 'ponding effect, if any, would not reach even a fraction of this distance'.
"No part of the present construction, nor any part of the proposed embankment, would cause flooding in Nepal. Nevertheless, at the request of the Nepali government, all construction at the site has been stopped with effect from July 10," Rao said.
Opposition to the embankment by the All Nepal National Students Union, an affiliate of the opposition Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist, has contributed to the latest strain between New Delhi and Kathmandu.
Agencies
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