Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal (L) talks to Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam at Tribhuvan International Airport before leaving for New Delhi to take part in the second summit of the BIMSTEC Wednesday, Nov 12 08. PM Dahal is scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh in New Delhi today. nepalnews.com/rh

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (L) talks to Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam…
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal arrived in the Indian capital, New Delhi, Wednesday afternoon, to attend the second summit of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation).

India’s minister of state for Industry and Commerce, Ashwini Kumar, received the Prime Minister at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi where he landed at around 12:15 pm, reports said.

Briefly speaking to media persons at the Delhi airport, PM Dahal said he expected his visit to be fruitful in garnering Indian support for the peace process, economic development and constitution-making process. Dahal is scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh in the evening.

He is set to address the summit on Thursday and will meet with the regional leaders on the sidelines of the summit.

PM Dahal is scheduled to call on Indian president Pratibha Patil and hold bilateral talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his stay in New Delhi. PM Dahal will return home on Friday.

PM Dahal is accompanied by Water Resource Minister Bishnu Poudel, chief secretary Bhoj Raj Ghimire and Water Resource Secretary Shankar Koirala.

Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav left for India Tuesday to attend the ministerial meeting of the BIMSTEC.

The BIMSTEC has seven member states – Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan. It is a regional initiative for economic cooperation. nepalnews.com Nov 12 08