Kanchanjungha expedition helped further strengthen Nepal-India relations: Defense Minister

Kathmandu, May 2: Defence Minister Man Bir Rai has expressed the belief that Nepal-India Joint Mt.

Kanchanjungha expedition shall help further strengthen and take the relations between the two countries to a new height. At an expedition flag handing over ceremony of the Nepal-India Joint Mt Kanchanjungha Expedition at NA headquarters, Defence Minister Rai said the Nepali Army and Indian Army have exhibited an example of cooperation and friendship by overcoming difficult challenges through a detailed plan, discipline, courage, determination and high-level coordination.

The expedition team comprised Nepali Army and Indian Army personnel. Earlier, the Nepali Army and Indian Army had jointly scaled the Sagarmatha in 2003 and 2013. However, this was the first time that the joint team of the Nepali army and Indian Army climbed Mt Kanchenjunga. On the occasion, expedition team members handed over the expedition flag to Defence Minister Rai and Chief of General Staff, Nirmal Thapa.

Similarly, the Chief of the Department of Military Operations, Major General Prem Dhoj Adhikari, briefed on the joint expedition. The joint team comprising 10 Nepali Army and five Indian Army personnel successfully climbed Mt Kanchenjunga on May 19 and 20.

The ‘Flag off ceremony’ was held in the presence of the Defence Minister of India on April 3, 2025. Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Naveen Srivastava, as well as representatives of different ministries of the government of Nepal, members of the Joint team of Kanchanjungha Expedition, representatives of Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal, officers and media persons were present on the occasion.