Indira Gandhi in Nepal

Indira Gandhi in Nepal THE COMPOSITION of the delegation which accompanied the Prime Minister on her visit to Nepal was intriguing. Nepal had made it known that it was looking forward to the visit primarily to discuss economic issues, particularly implementation of the 1960 treaty on trade and transit, impact of devaluation of the Indian rupee on Nepal's exports to India and likely assistance from India for Nepal's Third Plan. In preparation for his talks with the Indian Prime Minister, the Chairman of Nepal's Council of Ministers had himself taken over from the Council's Deputy Chairman the portfolio of economic planning. Yet while Indira Gandhi took with her both the Minister of State for External AfTairs and the Foreign Secretary, no senior officer of the Commerce Ministry accompanied her. Whether this was the result of a deliberate decision or of faulty briefing by our Embassy in Kathmandu, the Nepal Government must have been more than a little disappointed. That the absence of a representative of the Commerce Ministry was acutely felt in the talks is evident from the decision to send the Commerce Secretary to Nepal within days of the Prime Minister's return.