KATHMANDU, Nov 26 - India and Nepal on Thursday agreed to step up efforts to advance mutual cooperation as Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla met the country�s top leadership and held �productive� talks with his Nepalese counterpart on a range of bilateral issues.
Shringla was accorded a warm welcome on his maiden visit to Nepal at the invitation of Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal, amid a strain in bilateral ties following a bitter border row between the two countries.
Shringla paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli at the latter�s official residence at Baluwatar, according to Prime Minister�s Press advisor Surya Thapa.
Shringla also called on Nepal�s Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and handed over 2,000 vials of anti-virus drug Remdesivir to him as part of India�s continuing assistance to the Himalayan nation to help it contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier, the Foreign Secretary met his Nepalese counterpart and had a �very productive and useful exchange� with him.
�FS @harshvshringla had a productive meeting with @PaudyalBR during which they took stock of bilateral cooperation and discussed issues of mutual interest,� the Indian embassy in Kathmandu said in a tweet.
�Both sides appreciated the progress made on the numerous bilateral initiatives and projects. It was agreed to take further steps to advance mutual cooperation,� it said in another tweet.
Speaking to the media, he said: �We had a very productive and useful exchange.
�The very large number of issues of bilateral cooperation that we went through, it shows the multi-faceted and comprehensive nature of our cooperation. We both agreed on various steps to advance some areas of cooperation, on very good progress on commitments made by the leadership and looking at some other initiatives that could happen,� he said.
Nepal�s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the two Foreign Secretaries discussed various aspects of bilateral relations. � PTI
