No arms deal with India: Nepal Defense Minister

August 21st, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepal's Communication and Information Minister and spokesman Shankar Pokharel on Friday described the five-day visit to India of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal as a milestone in Indo-Nepal relations. "The visit is a milestone in Nepal-India relations," Pokharel told reporters.

August 15th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepal's Minister for Commerce and Supplies Rajendra Mahato has said that Nepal and India will ink two key treaties to boost bilateral trade and provide more trade facilities during Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal's visit to New Delhi from August 18. Talking to reporters here, Mahato said: "Nepal and India will sign at least two treaties to expand trade and provide more trade facilities including opening new border points for movement of goods between the two countries." Mahato, who will accompany Nepal during the visit said, "The amendments in Nepal-India Trade Treaty - 1996 and a Treaty to Control Unauthorized Trade are the two documents on which the two nations will put their seal during Nepals visit." The other two treaties are aimed at eliminating double taxation and agreement on promotion and protection of investments.

August 14th, 2009 KATMANDU - Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Friday hinted that Nepal and India may reach an agreement on starting some new projects during his visit to India. Saying that his visit is aimed at strengthening mutual understanding and bilateral ties, he urged everyone not to view his visit with suspicion.

August 8th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has assured Parliament that his government will not sign any agreement with India without taking them into confidence. Madhav Kumar is visiting India for a five days goodwill visit starting from August 18, which will be his first official visit after assuming the office of the Prime Minister.

July 26th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepal's Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Sunday dismissed reports in the Nepali and Indian media that his government was on an arms-shopping spree in India, saying they were "baseless rumours". Summoned by a parliamentary committee Sunday to clarify his coalition government's stand on making fresh arms purchases from India and other internal issues, the communist leader said his government would not do anything to endanger the ongoing peace process.

July 24th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Amidst the growing controversy over the resumption of Indian military assistance to Nepal, the UN Friday said such a gesture would violate the peace pact between the former Maoist guerrillas and ruling parties that ended a decade of violence in the Himalayan nation. The row was triggered Tuesday when Nepal's Defence Minister Vidya Bhandari met her Indian counterpart A.K.

July 22nd, 2009 KATHMANDU - Former Nepal prime minister and current opposition leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has asked the new government of Nepal not to resume buying arms from India, warning that it would hit the ongoing peace negotiations adversely. Prachanda, whose Maoist party fought a 10-year battle to overthrow Nepal's constitutional monarchy, has asked Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal not to seek fresh military assistance from India, Prachanda's aide Samir Dahal told IANS.

July 20th, 2009 KATHMANDU - The defence ministers of India and Nepal will hold talks in New Delhi Tuesday, the first meeting of its kind since the attempt by King Gyanendra four years ago to rule his kingdom with the help of the army. Vidya Bhandari, the new defence minister in the Communist-headed government of Nepal, left for the Indian capital Monday on a six-day visit during which she will also be undergoing medical tests at the Apollo Hospital, the minister's secretariat in Kathmandu said.

May 27th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has congratulated his Nepalese counterpart Madhav Kumar Nepal on his appointment as Prime Minister and invited the latter to visit India.

May 25th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Indian Ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood and United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) chief Karen Ladgren have separately met newly elected Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal at the latter's residence, Koteshwor. They congratulated Nepal on his election as the new Prime Minister and extended best wishes for his successful term.

May 2nd, 2009 KATHMANDU - Japan's Vice Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi will arrive here on a two-day visit today. During his visit, Kishi will inspect the activities of the Japanese Arms Monitors working under the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) to familiarise himself with the activities of UNMIN.

May 1st, 2009 KATHMANDU - Japan's Vice Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi will arrive here on a two-day visit on Saturday. During his visit, Kishi will inspect the activities of the Japanese Arms Monitors working under the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) to familiarise himself with the activities of UNMIN.

April 19th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepali Prime Minister Prachanda has told British Under Secretary of State for Defense and Minister for Veterans Kevan Jones that the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) may be asked to stop work after the integration of the army and the rehabilitation of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) combatants by July. Jones, in his departure statement at the end of his five-day visit to Nepal, said that the people of Nepal could be assured of Britain's steadfast support, both for peace building and for development.

March 24th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Power Trading Corporation (PTC) of India has proposed to supply additional 500 MW electricity to Nepal. Nepalnews quoted Shankar Prasad Koirala, secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources, as saying that PTC had stated in a letter to the ministry that it could provide 500 MW in 18 months if Nepal government agreed to its proposal.

February 15th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Three months after he had accompanied Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Nepal, India's Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon is arriving in Kathmandu Tuesday on a two-day visit. The Indian envoy is scheduled to hold talks with Nepal's Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav and opposition leader and former premier Girija Prasad Koirala.