India had earlier provided more than 25 tonnes of essential medicines, equipment and medical supplies to Nepal

In sync with its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, India has today dispatched 1 million doses of Covishield vaccines to Nepal.

A close neighbour, Nepal had requested for the supply of Indian manufactured Covid vaccines.

The request was also made during a recent visit to India by Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali. Nepal is one of the first countries to receive India’s gift of Covid vaccines.

Since the onset of the pandemic, India has maintained close coordination with Nepal and provided overall assistance including medical, technical and humanitarian assistance.

Last year, on March 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Nepal K P Sharma Oli during the video conference of SAARC leaders and also during their telephonic talks on April 10, had exchanged views on jointly combating Covid-19 pandemic.

India had earlier provided more than 25 tonnes of essential medicines, equipment and medical supplies to Nepal. This includes supplies of Paracetamol, Hydroxychloroquine, PPEs, diagnostic test kits, ventilators and Remdesivir injections under grant assistance worth US$ 2 million.

Training and capacity building has been extended to Nepali health workers, doctors and professionals for effective management of Covid, immunization, administration, cold chain storage. Several Nepali health workers participated at the ‘COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-out: Training of Trainers’ organised by India on January 19-20, 2021.

Despite the challenges, India ensured uninterrupted flow of trade and supplies across the border. India remains the largest trade partner of Nepal with bilateral trade crossing US$ 7 billion in 2020.

India also facilitated the repatriation of Nepali nationals stranded in third countries due to the pandemic. It assisted the efforts of Nepal in bringing medical assistance from third countries and repatriation/ evacuation of its nationals by providing smooth over flight through Indian territory. Special facilitation was provided for travel of Nepali nationals requiring emergency medical treatment in India.

Daily flights between New Delhi and Kathmandu in December 2020 under Air travel Bubble arrangement between India and Nepal, bringing relief to many travelers. Both sides are now working to restore regular movement of nationals across the border through both land and air routes.

The various India-assisted connectivity, infrastructure and development projects in Nepal made concrete progress despite the difficulties due to Covid restrictions. Several reconstruction and High Impact Community Development projects were completed and handed over to Nepal. India will continue to work with Nepal towards economic recovery in the post- Covid world.