Visiting Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigme Y. Thinley called on his Nepali counterpart Madhav Kumar Nepal and held discussion on issues of bilateral interests at the Prime Ministerial office in Kathmandu.
During the meeting, PM Nepal raised the contentious issue of Bhutanese refugees, most of the them still languishing in the refugee camps in eastern Nepal, and sought the support of the Bhutan government in their repatriation.
"It is the inborn right of the Bhutanese refugees to get repatriated with due respect as the third country settlement option is not a lasting solution to the crisis," Rajan Bhattarai, Foreign Relations Advisor to the PM quoted him as saying to his Bhutanese counterpart.
In reply, the Bhutanese Prime Minister is said to have stressed on more bilateral talks to find out an amicable solution to the refugee problem.
Bhutan is concerned about the refugee crisis and is ready to hold talks with Nepal, though the third country settlement process is underway satisfactorily," Thinley said.
The two government heads also dwelt on the possible agendas of the upcoming SAARC Summit scheduled to be held in Bhutan this year. The two further agreed to raise the issue of climate change as a priority agenda in the forthcoming regional meet.
Early today, Thinley arrived in Kathmandu to extend a message of condolence on his own and on behalf of the Bhutanese people to the government and people of Nepal on the 13 day of the demise of former prime minister the late Girija Prasad Koirala.
He flew back home this evening.
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