Uncertain meetings in New York between Oli-Modi and SAARC Council of Ministers

Two events that Nepal has attached great importance to on the sidelines of the 79th UN General Assembly in New York this year – a meeting between Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and the convening of the SAARC Council of Ministers – are unlikely to materialise.

A request has already been made to the Indian side for a meeting between Prime Minister Oli and his Indian counterpart Modi on the sidelines of the Future Summit to be hosted by UN Secretary General António Guterres, a foreign ministry official said.

The meeting between Oli and Modi has not yet been confirmed despite a positive note from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu on the matter.

Officials at Nepal's permanent mission in New York are, however, busy making arrangements for the meeting between Oli and Modi. Foreign Minister Arzu Rana, in a conversation with the Washington Post, also expressed optimism that the meeting would take place.

Prime Minister Oli will head the Nepalese delegation to New York on September 20.

Modi will not attend the UN General Assembly this year. Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishnakar will represent India at the UN summit and address the assembly.

According to Indian media reports, Modi will attend the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) summit in US President Joe Biden's hometown of Delaware on September 21.

After attending the Quad summit, Modi will arrive in New York on September 22 and address the Indian community there. Besides Oli, other heads of government and state attending the General Assembly as well as the Future Summit, including the chief adviser to the new Bangladeshi government, Muhammad Yunus, are keen to meet Modi.

On September 23, the Indian prime minister will attend the Future Summit and return to New Delhi. There is a small window of time on the night of November 22 and before Modi leaves for India, a joint secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs said. Nepali officials are exploring the opportunity.

Nepal's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Lok Bahadur Thapa on Monday held talks in New York with Parvathaneni Harish, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and explored the possibility of a meeting between the two leaders.

There is no reason why there should not be a meeting between the two prime ministers, a Nepalese diplomat based in New York said. The Nepalese mission is also arranging meetings between Oli and Foreign Minister Arzu Rana along with several of their counterparts.

Highlighting the deep and ancient ties between the two countries and peoples, they agreed to strengthen the India-Nepal partnership in the UN, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN wrote on social media site X after Thapa and Harish's meeting.

Earlier, Oli and Modi were preparing to meet on the sidelines of the sixth Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit in Thailand. The summit was postponed due to an unforeseen political situation in the country.

Nepal also wishes to host the Saarc Council of Ministers meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 26.

“We have received the consent of almost all the member states except Afghanistan, which is not yet recognised by the South Asian community. The meeting will not take place this year either as India is reluctant to participate,” the joint secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Nepal currently holds the presidency of SAARC. This November, it will celebrate its tenth anniversary, making it the longest-serving country to hold the presidency of the regional group.

If the meeting does not take place this time, it will be the fifth consecutive year that the SAARC Council of Ministers, which usually meets during the annual UN General Assembly, will not meet. The South Asian grouping has been paralysed by the long-standing rivalry between India and Pakistan. The 19th summit was scheduled to be held in Pakistan but was cancelled due to cross-border terrorism and an attack on an Indian military base.

In the last eight years, the Nepalese side has reportedly not made any serious effort to hand over the chairmanship of the group. Due to the hostility between India and Pakistan, the entire SAARC process has been stalled since 2016.

The New York meeting, seen as a preview of high-level meetings, including the summit, did not take place in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

In 2019, the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan boycotted each other's speeches at a meeting of the SAARC Council of Ministers held on the sidelines of the 74th United Nations General Assembly.

In 2020, the meeting was held virtually and member states committed to strengthening regional integration, but it failed to end the impasse in the SAARC process. In 2021, the meeting was cancelled at the last minute as member states did not agree to participate. In line with SAARC tradition, no meeting or summit can take place even if a member state objects.

On September 5, the cabinet approved Prime Minister Oli's upcoming visit to New York, the first foreign trip since he assumed office on July 15. The prime minister will address the United Nations General Assembly on September 26. Oli will lead a 19-person official delegation, including his wife Radhika Shakya, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel, Foreign Minister Rana, Prime Minister's Advisor Bishnu Rimal, senior government officials, journalists, security personnel and personal doctors.

Foreign Minister Rana, who is scheduled to travel to Canada ahead of the UN assembly, will join the delegation in New York.

Besides other engagements, the Prime Minister will participate in an interaction at Columbia University on September 25 on Nepal's journey towards democracy and economic prosperity.