By Xinhua,
New Delhi : Nepal’s Prime Minister Prachanda on Monday said there were historical ties with India which were crucial, the Indian Express reported Tuesday.
Prachanda, who is on a four-day tour of India, is expected to discuss reviewing the 1950 Friendship Treaty with India.
While delivering an address at a joint business meeting organized by India’s three leading chambers of commerce and industry, the Nepal’s Prime Minister said, “I think that due to our historical, cultural and geographical relations, due to our whole tradition of inter-dependence, the relation with India is crucial and vital.”
On Monday, he held talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, besides meeting External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition L K Advani, President Pratibha Patil and Vice-President Hamid Ansari.
Mr. Prachanda said he would head a high-level investment board to reform the industrial policy, simplify procedures and encourage investments that would reduce trade deficit and prioritize exports. These measures would be harmonized with the new economic policy to ensure a “judicious distribution” of economic benefits to the people and accelerate economic growth.
Admitting that the economy was sluggish in the transition process, he said additional opportunities for Indian industry lay in reconstruction of damaged facilities and building of infrastructure.
Prachanda arrived in India on Sunday. This is his first visit to India after becoming the first elected Prime Minister of the federal republic Nepal last month.