Kathmandu:
Nepal has offered to provide training to Indian Army personnel, who are up for deployment in United Nations peacekeeping missions in different countries.
The proposal was put forward during the ninth Nepal-India Bilateral Consultative Group on security issues, which concluded in Pokhara on Saturday.
This is for the first time that Nepal has offered training slots to the Indian Army, officials in the Foreign Ministry said.
India is one of the largest contributors to United Nations peacekeeping efforts across the globe.
Nepalese Army too has a long history of association with the UN peacekeeping force.
The Nepalese Army has two training centres exclusively for peacekeepers - in Pachkal and at Saljhandi.
During the meeting, the Consultative Group discussed matters relating to mutual interests in security issues, including the fake Indian currency racket, bilateral cooperation on trainings, disaster response, and information sharing to curb cross-border crimes, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The meeting also discussed issues relating to purchasing vehicles for the Nepalese Army, upgrading the army's Sundarijal arsenal factory and providing hardware and logistic assistance for the army's new directorate, according to sources at the Foreign Ministry.
Deepak Dhital, Joint-Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nepal, and Akhilesh Mishra, Joint-Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs, India, led the discussions during the three day meeting.