A troika of high-level delegates from the European Union (EU) met Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and separately held discussions with Foreign Ministry officials on the prospects of peace in Nepal and early solution to the Bhutanese refugee crisis Tuesday.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister and the EU troika discussed ways to achieve what the EU has been saying as inclusive settlement of the ongoing Maoist conflict. Matters of Nepal-EU cooperation also figured during the meeting, it is learnt.

The troika led by Robert Milards, the director for Asian affairs of the Foreign Ministry of the Netherlands that holds the EU Presidency arrived in Kathmandu on a three-day visit on Monday.

The team comprises Peggy Frantzen of Luxembourg as a representative of upcoming EU presidency and Laurence Argimon-Pistre, head of the South Asia unit of the European Commission and an official from the General Secretariat of the European Council.

The EU team, at the official meeting with Foreign Ministry officials, was stressful on finding early solution of the Bhutanese refugee problem by creating pressure on the Bhutanese government, ministry sources said. Dr Prakash Saran Mahat, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, led the Nepali team.

The EU has been saying that it favours a respectful and early repatriation of the Bhutanese refugees. nepalnews.com mbk Dec 14 04