Kathmandu. Foreign Secretary of India Harsh Vardhan Shringla is visitiong Nepal on the last week of November. News source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has confirmed about the visit of the foreign secretary.

MoFA informed that after the visit of the Indian foreign secretary, there will be a foreign minister-level talk between Nepal and India. The date of the visit of the foreign secretary of India has not been finalized yet, the MoFA source said.

According to Hindustan times, Foreign Secretary Sharangla will travel to Kathmandu in November 26. During his stay in Kathmandu, he will call on President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali and hold bilateral talks with his counterpart  Bharat Raj Paudyal.

“We have not worked out the date of the Indian foreign secretary’s visit yet, but Indian media have already announced it,” the MoFA source said. “This also shows the eagerness of the Indian side to improve the relationship.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs Pradeep Gyawali told DCNepal that after the foreign secretary’s visit, there is a possibility of the Indian foreign minister’s visit to Nepal. The current development in the Indian approach towards Nepal after a long period of reticence also hints at the same.

India has scheduled the visit of the Indian foreign secretary following the visit of its Army chief. General MM Naravane, the chief of the Indian Army had visited Nepal after Samant Goyal, chief of Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) met PM KP Sharma Oli.

Indian Army Chief General Naravane had high level meetings while he was in Nepal to accept the honorary rank of General of the Nepali Army. There had been talks about the visit of Indian foreign secretary after General Naravane’s visit.

The relation between India and Nepal dampened after the issuance of a new political map by India including Nepal’s Limpiyadhura, Lipulek and Kalapani within its territorial border. The tension had escalated after Nepal issued its own new map with the aforementioned region, approving it by the Parliament. This led to the disruption of communication between the two countries, with India not making any response to Nepal’s call of bilateral talks to resolve the issue.

The high-level visits to Nepal scheduled by India in rapid succession, however, seem to be warming their otherwise tepid current relationship. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had made a phone call to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of the Independence Day of India. Plans had been underway to create a suitable environment for talks between the two countries after the phone conversation between the two heads of the executive.

It is assumed that the RAW chief’s visit has created a favorable ground for conversation between the two countries.  PM Oli had stressed during the meeting with General Naravane that Nepal had wanted to solve the border issue with India through bilateral talks. He had sent a clear message that Nepal wanted to improve the relationship with India and take it to a new height.

The Indian side has also been seen approaching the issue in a different manner. The successive high-level visits hint that India has given up its rigidity and has started to give importance to talks with Nepal again.