Jaishankar arrived in Thimphu on Wednesday (September 16, 2026) for a two-day visit to discuss India’s development assistance, while Nepal Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle will arrive in Delhi on Thursday (September 17, 2026) for talks that are expected to discuss India’s support for Nepal’s reconstruction post-floods, as the government intensifies its outreach in the neighbourhood. External Affairs Minister S.
Last week, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh travelled to Colombo, in the first such visit by an Indian Defence Minister in nearly four decades, to strengthen strategic ties. Mr. Jaishankar met with Bhutan Foreign Minister Lyonpo D.N. Dhungyel for bilateral discussions at Bumthang in central Bhutan. The Ministers also laid the foundation stone for a hydropower project, and inaugurated a bridge and a hospital in different parts of the country. Meanwhile, Mr. He will also meet a number of diplomatic and economic experts and academics during his two-day visit.
Wagle will land in Delhi on Thursday (September 17, 2026) for talks with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and other Ministers.
“Our conversation focused on advancing our multifaceted engagement in development partnership, energy, trade, connectivity, culture, and people-to-people ties,” Mr. Jaishankar said in a post. On Thursday, he will meet Bhutan’s fifth King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and call on Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a release.
Mr. The government also approved the export of power to the flood-hit areas. which was addressed only to Mr While Dhaka questioned the nature of the invitation. The absence of a regional leader at the BRICS summit was in contrast to all previous such summits.
Wagle’s visit comes two weeks after Nepal’s deadly flash floods, which claimed nearly 1,400 lives and caused major infrastructural damage. India despatched more than 130 tonnes of relief material and 54 expert personnel from India to support Nepal’s ongoing rescue, relief and forensic operations. The visits come within days of the BRICS Summit, where the government hosted leaders from more than 20 countries, but none from India’s neighbourhood, which commentators described as a missed opportunity.
The lone South Asian invitee, Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, declined the invitation due to tensions between the two countries.
Asked about the lack of South Asian countries, MEA officials said India’s focus during the BRICS Summit preparations was on representation from “Global South” countries. Apart from 10 BRICS “partners”, the government had invited regional grouping chairs from the developing world, including Philippines (ASEAN), Burundi (African Union), Bahrain (GCC), and Uruguay (CELAC), apart from BIMSTEC. Rahman in his capacity as chair of the BIMSTEC regional grouping, the MEA clarified on Tuesday that a separate invitation had also been sent to Prime Minister Rahman.
