Nepal offers to train Indian peacekeepers

Kathmandu, April 28 (IANS) Nepal has offered to train Indian Army officers who will take part in the United Nations peacekeeping operations under various international assignments.

Nepal made the offer during the ninth meeting of Nepal-India Bilateral Consultative Group on Security Issues that concluded in Pokhara in western Nepal Friday, reported Xinhua.

"This is the first time Nepal offered such training slots to Indian Army," said a Nepali official.

The Nepal Army (NA) has two training centres exclusively for peacekeepers and an integrated training centre.

The bilateral security meeting mainly dwelt on eight agendas that included imparting various types of training to Nepal Army personnel, purchasing vehicles for the army, upgrading the army's Sundarijal arsenal factory, maintaining the army helicopters, and providing hardware and logistic assistance for the army's new directorate.

"We discussed all the agendas and will forward our requirements to India later. We also discussed about requirements for the NA's new directorate," Dipak Dhital, joint secretary in the foreign ministry, was quoted by eKantipur.com as saying Saturday.

He said the two sides agreed to strengthen the bilateral mechanisms to manage the Nepal-India border.