Any misunderstanding can be resolved through talks: Oli tells Naravane

Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma oli on Friday told visiting Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane that any misunderstanding between the two neighbours can be resolved through talks.

General Naravane, who arrived in Nepal on Wednesday on a three-day visit, met the Prime Minister here before leaving for New Delhi.

During the meeting, Oli and General Naravane also discussed various bilateral issues, the Prime Minister's foreign relations advisor Rajan Bhattarai said.

On Thursday, General Navarane was conferred with the honorary rank of General of the Nepal Army by President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

The ceremony at the President's Office was attended by Prime Minister Oli, Indian Ambassador Vinay M. Kwatra and other senior officials of both the countries.

Nepal and India have a historic tradition of conferring the honorary title to each other's army chief since 1950.

He became the 18th Indian Army Chief to be conferred with the title.

General Naravane is the senior-most Indian official to visit Nepal following the countries' boundary dispute since last November after placing disputed territories in its new political map.

It was India's road construction to the Lipulekh area at 17,000 feet that sparked the diplomatic row between India and Nepal as Kathmandu claimed the area to be its territory.

The road was constructed to shorten the travel time for pilgrims visiting the Kailash Mansarovar.

Lipulekh is a tri-junction between India, Nepal and China situated atop the Kalapani Valley in Uttarakhand.

After this, Nepal brought out a new political map showing the contested area as its own.

India has rejected this new map of Nepal saying it is not based on historical facts or evidence.

--IANS

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