January 5: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed his commitment that the incumbent government will not enter into any agreement that is detrimental to the national interest.

The prime minister made such remarks during a meeting of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives on Friday.

He was responding to queries made by the lawmakers regarding his meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the agreements Nepal signed with India on Thursday.

Prime Minister Dahal clarified that India alone will not take a final decision on projects worth up to Rs 200 million for which it has signed agreement to invest in Nepal. According to Dahal, Nepal's decision and participation will also be taken into consideration while implementing the decision.

“The most important thing is that India has agreed to purchase 10,000 megawatts of electricity in 10 years regardless of who produces it. You don’t need to harbor any doubt. The implementation of the agreement is in the best interest of Nepal,” said Dahal.

It may be noted that India had earlier raised objection to purchase electricity produced in Nepal with Chinese investment.

Responding to the questions of the MPs that the Indian Foreign Minister was quite interested in the visit of a Chinese delegation to Nepal, the prime minister said, “He did not utter a word about it even in the 'one-to-one' meeting as well as the joint meeting.”