Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Thursday claimed that Nepal's relations with its two big neighbours have improved after he came to power.
"Soon after I became Prime Minister, I sent two deputy Prime Ministers to two neighbours to strengthen our diplomatic ties with them," he said. "My efforts have borne fruit as well."
Addressing Parliament ahead of his Delhi visit, Dahal blamed former Prime Minister KP Oli for deepening mutual distrust with India by cancelling President Bidya Bhandari's visit and recalling ambassador Deep Kumar Upadhyay.
Dahal is flying to New Delhi next week, and will hold a meeting with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His government has already decided to resend Upadhyay as Nepal's ambassador to India, and is laying the groundwork for President Bhandari's rescheduled New Delhi visit.
But China's President Xi Jinping's visit to Kathmandu is not certain, and Dahal could not assure Parliament about it.
A Nepali daily reported this week that Chinese officials have already informed Nepali officials about cancellation of Xi's visit, expressing displeasure at lack of interest shown by Dahal in terms of implementing the trade and transit agreement between Kathmandu and China.
In a terse statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dismissed the news, but refrained from confirming Xi's visit. In Parliament, PM Dahal neither confirmed nor denied the news.