Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli and Bhutanese Foreign Minister Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk discussed the Bhutanese refugee issue and mutual relation of two countries in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

According to the press statement issued by Nepali embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the two leaders met on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement, being held at Putrajaya International Convention Centre.

During the meeting, DPM Oli expressed the view that the new Government of Nepal was eager to make a fresh beginning in the bilateral talks between the two countries to bring an end to the long festering problem of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal once and for all, the statement said.

Oli also underlined the fact that the refugee problem was essentially a problem between the Government of Bhutan and its people and it should not be allowed to come in any way in the development of bilateral relations between the two countries.

He also called upon the Bhutanese government to be flexible and helpful in working out a durable solution to the problem in the changed context and make it acceptable to the refugees who have been sheltered in eastern Nepal on humanitarian grounds since the last 16 years.

Refugee leaders have been demanding that Nepal should lay off its hands from the bilateral talks and call on the international community to find a permanent and early solution of the crisis.

Bilateral talks between the Nepali and Bhutanese governments has not been held since the announcement of the result of the verification of the refugees of Khudunabari camp in December 2003 where refugees hurled stones upon the Bhutanese officials saying the verification was discriminatory.