Nepal's Home Minister Sudhan Gurung met his Indian counterpart, Amit Shah, in New Delhi on Tuesday, discussing ways to strengthen security cooperation and coordination between the two countries. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the first BIMSTEC home ministers' level meeting, according to the Nepali Embassy in Delhi. Their agenda included border management, controlling cross-border crime and improving disaster preparedness and response. Gurung also thanked India for its timely assistance to Nepal following recent floods and landslides.
Security cooperation and border management
The discussion focused on practical areas of bilateral security cooperation, with both sides addressing coordination on border management and efforts to control cross-border crime. The Nepali Embassy said the ministers exchanged views on strengthening cooperation between Nepal and India in these areas. The account did not provide details of specific measures, agreements or follow-up actions agreed at the meeting.
Border management and crime control were presented as linked priorities in the talks. The ministers discussed increasing coordination on the border while also seeking to curb criminal activity that crosses it. Their conversation placed cooperation between the two countries at the centre of the security agenda, though no particular incidents or enforcement initiatives were identified in the embassy's account.
Disaster preparedness and response
The ministers also discussed making disaster preparedness and response more effective. The topic was raised alongside security cooperation and border coordination, highlighting disaster management as another area for bilateral engagement. The embassy account did not outline any new response arrangements or specify how the two sides might put improved preparedness into practice.
Gurung thanked India for providing timely assistance after recent floods and landslides in Nepal. His thanks acknowledged India's support following the disasters, while the meeting provided an opportunity to raise preparedness and response as part of the wider bilateral discussion. No further details about the assistance, the affected locations or the scale of the damage were included in the account.
Meeting held alongside BIMSTEC gathering
The meeting between Gurung and Shah took place on the sidelines of the first BIMSTEC home ministers' level meeting in New Delhi. That setting brought the two ministers together during a regional gathering focused on home affairs. The bilateral conversation covered issues the embassy identified as priorities for Nepal-India cooperation, rather than announcing a separate package of measures.
The Nepali Embassy in Delhi reported the meeting and outlined the subjects discussed. Its account described talks on strengthening bilateral security cooperation, improving coordination on border management, controlling cross-border crime and making disaster preparedness and response more effective. It also noted Gurung's appreciation for India's timely assistance following the recent floods and landslides in Nepal. A report by Khabarhub also covered the meeting.
The discussion brought together security and disaster-related issues in a single bilateral engagement on the margins of the BIMSTEC meeting. While the reported account did not set out specific decisions or timelines, it identified the areas where the two ministers discussed closer cooperation. The exchange also included Gurung's recognition of India's assistance to Nepal after the recent natural disasters.
