Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army, General Upendra Dwivedi, is on a five-day official visit to Kathmandu at the invitation of General Ashok Raj Sigdel, Chief of the Army Staff of the Nepali Army. General Dwivedi is leading a five-member delegation, including his spouse, Sunita Dwivedi, Chairperson of the Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) of the Indian Army. The delegation was received at Tribhuvan International Airport by Major General Prem Dhoj Adhikari, Head of the Department of Military Operations, Nepali Army.
General Dwivedi, PVSM, AVSM, laid a wreath and paid homage to martyrs at the Army Pavilion in Tundikhel. He was later accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour at the Nepali Army Headquarters, where he met General Ashok Raj Sigdel. The two leaders discussed enhancing military bilateral relations between India and Nepal.
As a gesture of goodwill and enduring friendship, General Dwivedi presented military horses and dogs to General Sigdel. He also planted a Rudraksha sapling within the Nepali Army Headquarters premises.
In a special ceremony to be held later today, President Ram Chandra Poudel will confer upon General Dwivedi the honorary rank of General of the Nepali Army, symbolizing the close ties between the armed forces of both nations.
-Sweta Singh (Kathmandu)