Nepal attaches special priority to its relations with India and China, Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said today and warned against using neighbouring nations to get into power.
Inaugurating a seminar on 'enhancing national security through defence and diplomacy' organised by the Commandant, Army Command and Staff College, Mahat said, "For long we have been using the relations with our neighbours as a tool for achieving power and addressing one party's interests."
He said the mentality of using relations with the neighbouring countries as a means to getting to power and fulfilling partisan interests would never make nationalism stronger, Kathmandu Post reported.
Stating that Nepal attaches special priority to its relations with India and China, the foreign minister said such ties should be further consolidated on the basis of mutual trust.
"Nepal's relations with China and India have their own special features. Our relations with both of them should be harmonious. Nepal is always making efforts towards that end and positive outcomes are also coming out," the paper quoted him as saying.
Nepal's geographical and caste diversities have contributed to the strengthening of national unity and national security, he said, underlining the need for using diplomacy as the base for national defence.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief of Army Staff Gen Rajendra Chhetri said diplomacy and defence are the pillars of national sovereignty, integrity and independence.
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