PM Bhattarai meets his Indian counterpart in Tehran; calls for more Indian investment

Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai met his Indian counterpart Man Mohan Singh in Iranian capital Tehran on Friday on the sidelines of the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) summit, discussing issues of bilateral cooperation, particularly emphasising on more Indian investment in Nepal.

PM Baburam Bhattarai

Indian PM Singh

According to RSS, PM Bhattarai said Nepal would welcome Indian investment and that investment in hydropower would be particularly important given Nepal's pressing energy crisis. He also called on the Indian side to supply 200 MW electricity to Nepal, as pledged earlier.

In response, the Indian PM said India would implement the commitment to provide electricity to Nepal and that Nepal remains special priority for India in terms of its bilateral assistance.

The hour-long meeting also dwelt on Nepal's current political deadlock. PM Bhattarai mentioned that the parties had been in talks to reach an agreement and that all the parties were in favour of promulgating the new constitution from the Constituent Assembly.

The Indian PM said he was confident that Nepal's political parties would be able to find a way out of the impasse at the earliest, RSS said. nepalnews.com