Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is set to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the sixth Bimstec summit in Bangkok on Friday.

Leading the Nepali delegation for his first official visit to Thailand and to attend the summit, Prime Minister Oli left for Bangkok on Tuesday—in what is the first official visit of a Nepali prime minister to Thailand in 65 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations. His trip happens amid rising protests and demonstrations by pro-monarchy and pro-Hindu groups in Nepal.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transportation of Thailand Suriya Juangroongruangkit, Nepali ambassador to Thailand Dhan Bahadur Oli, and Thai ambassador to Nepal Suwapong Sirisorn welcomed Oli and the Nepali delegation at Suvarnabhumi Airport upon their arrival in Bangkok, said a statement issued by Oli’s private secretariat.

Oli’s one-day official visit to Thailand, which is scheduled for Wednesday, will include the signing of two government-to-government agreements and six memorandums of understanding between private sectors of Nepal and Thailand. These agreements will cover areas including culture, tourism and agriculture.

Oli and his Thai counterpart Paetongtarn Shinawatra will hold delegation level talks ahead of the signing of the agreements and memorandums of understanding, according to the itinerary of the visit. The two prime ministers will also hold a joint press conference.

Since assuming office in July last year, Prime Minister Oli has been looking for an official visit to India. His meeting with Modi in Bangkok will be their second engagement at a multilateral forum. The two had earlier met in New York last September.

They are scheduled to meet on Friday at 4 pm local time in Bangkok for half an hour, multiple Nepali officials now in Bangkok told the Post.

Their previous meeting during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York reportedly did not go well, according to the officials familiar with the New York meeting.

“We hope that their meeting in Bangkok will pave the way for Oli’s long-awaited official bilateral visit to India,” said another Nepali official stationed in Bangkok.

Neither has Oli been able to secure a visit to India or arrange a Nepal visit by the Indian prime minister due to strained political relations. Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba, during her meeting with Modi in August last year, invited the Indian prime minister to Nepal. But neither of the two visits—Oli’s visit to India and Modi’s visit to Nepal—has materialised.

“Not having bilateral visits at the highest political level for some time does not mean that we are not engaging with each other,” an official at Nepal’s foreign ministry told the Post.

“Nepal and India have concluded the meetings of several mechanisms and made some commendable progress and notable achievements. During the meeting between the two prime ministers, matters related to breaking down the logjam at the highest political level, among other things, will be discussed,” another official at the foreign ministry said.

Besides Modi, Prime Minister Oli will meet other Bimstec leaders on the margins of the summit. Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba will engage in separate meetings and engagements in Bangkok on the sidelines of the summit, said the foreign ministry.

On Thursday morning, according to the itinerary, the prime minister will interact with Thai business leaders and, in the afternoon, address a gathering at the Asian Institute of Technology. As per the recent government decision, Oli will announce $ 100,000 support to AIT. Currently Nepal is serving as board of trustees at AIT as the premier Thai educational institution is also facing financial crisis.

A cabinet meeting on Monday decided to extend $ 100,000 support to the premier Thai educational institution where hundreds of Nepali students are passed out and dozens are still pursuing higher education in different streams.

He will then lead the Nepali delegation to the sixth Bimstec summit hosted by Thailand.

He will address the summit on Friday. The Thai prime minister will chair the opening session, leading discussions on key topics such as trade and investment, infrastructure connectivity, and food security cooperation.

According to the Bimstec secretariat, the summit will be preceded by a meeting of Bimstec senior officials on April 2 and a meeting of Bimstec foreign or external affairs ministers on April 3. The foreign secretaries of all seven member states comprise the senior officials’ meeting.

The theme of the 6th summit, which is being held three years after the fifth summit, which was held virtually in Colombo on March 30, 2022, is “Prosperous, Resilient, and Open Bimstec”.

The Bangkok summit will adopt the declaration of the sixth Bimstec summit, which will reflect the vision of the leaders as well as their decisions and directives, and adopt the Bangkok Vision 2030.

The Maritime Transport Cooperation agreement to be signed at the summit aims to expand sea transport in Bay of Bengal with a view to enhancing trade and travel among member states.

The member states will also sign memoranda of understanding between Bimstec and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), as well as Bimstec and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The summit will adopt the Rules of Procedure for the Bimstec Mechanisms, which, together with the charter, lay the foundation of an institutional framework for regional cooperation under Bimstec. It will also adopt the report of Eminent Persons’ Group on the Future Direction of Bimstec.

Bimstec, established in 1997, fosters regional cooperation between South and Southeast Asia. It comprises seven member states—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Prime Minister Oli will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba; Bishnu Prasad Rimal, chief advisor to the prime minister; Yuba Raj Khatiwada, economic and development advisor to the prime minister; and several high-ranking government officials. The prime minister will return home on April 5.

Bimstec pursues regional cooperation in seven broad sectors: Agriculture & Food Security; Connectivity; Environment & Climate Change; People-to-People Contact; Science, Technology & Innovation; Security; and Trade, Investment & Development.

The cooperation also covers eight sub-sectors: Blue Economy, Mountain Economy, Energy, Disaster Management, Fisheries & Livestock, Poverty Alleviation, Health, and Human Resource Development.