New Delhi: India and Nepal discussed their long-standing boundary dispute during talks in New Delhi on Saturday (June 6), with the two sides acknowledging progress by a joint field team and committing to resume formal border and boundary management discussions soon – even as neither government’s official readout made any mention of the sensitive territorial issue.External affairs minister S. Jaishankar held talks with Nepal foreign minister Shisir Khanal on Saturday, capping a week of intense engagement between New Delhi and Nepal’s new ruling establishment.While the official statements focused exclusively on development cooperation, connectivity and energy, it is learned from the Nepali side that “all issues of bilateral concern were discussed”.Sources told The Wire that both sides acknowledged progress on active ongoing work on the Nepal-India boundary by the joint field team, with further discussions to be taken up by the appropriate boundary and border management mechanism, which is expected to meet soon.“We remain committed to solve all our issues through dialogue and discussions with the spirit of friendship and understanding,” a high-level Nepali official said.The official silence on the border issue stood in contrast to the tensions that had preceded the visit. The talks came against the backdrop of Nepal’s objections to India’s use of the Lipulekh route for the 2026 Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, Kathmandu’s renewed assertion of its claims over Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura, and Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s suggestion that Britain could play a role in resolving the boundary dispute – a remark that prompted India to reiterate that the issue must be addressed bilaterally.The dispute over Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura centres on competing interpretations of the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli, which designated the Kali river as Nepal’s western boundary but did not specify where the river originates. Nepal argues the river begins at Limpiyadhura, which would place all three territories within its borders; India maintains the river originates further east, making the areas part of Uttarakhand.The dispute flared sharply after India in November 2019 released a new political map showing Kalapani as part of its territory and in May 2020 inaugurated a road through Lipulekh Pass, prompting Nepal to pass a constitutional amendment enshrining its claim to all three territories in a new political map – which New Delhi rejected as an “artificial enlargement of claims”.The issue resurfaced this year after India and China agreed to reopen Lipulekh for trade and then announced the 2026 Kailash Mansarovar Yatra would use the pass, which Nepal protested as a violation of its sovereignty.Khanal’s visit came immediately after the high-profile New Delhi trip of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) chairman Rabi Lamichhane, whose meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India’s top political and security leadership were widely seen in Nepal as a signal of New Delhi’s desire to cultivate ties with Nepal’s new power centre while also indicating to Shah that it had multiple avenues of engagement with Kathmandu.The visit was the first by a Nepali foreign minister to India since the RSP government assumed office in March, although Jaishankar and Khanal had previously met on the sidelines of the Indian Ocean Conference in Mauritius in April.Khanal arrived in New Delhi on Friday and held talks with national security adviser Ajit Doval before meeting Jaishankar.Saturday’s talks projected a markedly different public message from the tensions that had preceded them.“We believe that today there is an opportunity to decisively shift the trajectory of India-Nepal relations and to realise the full potential of our partnership,” Jaishankar said in his opening remarks.Khanal struck a similar note, describing New Delhi as Nepal’s “most important partner” and saying Kathmandu placed “highest priority on its relationship with India”.“We carry no old baggages, only a firm resolve to build a genuinely transformative relationship with our close neighbour and most important partner,” he said.Khanal also said he hoped the discussions would help “set the stage for forthcoming high-level visits” and mark the beginning of a new chapter in bilateral ties. His remarks come amid uncertainty over a possible India visit by Shah. India extended invitations to both Shah and Lamichhane after the RSP’s election victory, but Kathmandu has so far given no indication that the prime minister plans to undertake a foreign visit.The public messaging remained firmly focused on development cooperation, connectivity, energy and emerging sectors such as digital technology and artificial intelligence.As mentioned earlier, the statement issued by the Nepal embassy in New Delhi after the meeting made no reference to the boundary dispute or any border-related issues. Nor was there any mention of the issue in the opening remarks by either minister.The Indian readout similarly focused on development cooperation, connectivity, trade and transit, energy and people-to-people ties, while noting that the two ministers had exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues.After the talks, the two sides launched cross-border personal remittance transactions between India’s Unified Payments Interface and Nepal’s National Payments Interface. They also virtually handed over 72 health facilities and 12 cultural heritage reconstruction projects completed with Indian assistance under the post-2015 earthquake reconstruction programme.An agreement was also signed between Kathmandu University’s Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence and Digital India Bhashini to jointly develop a voice-first language translation platform for Nepal.The Indian side also announced the completion of internal procedures required to bring into force the India-Nepal Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement in Criminal Matters, which provides a legal framework for cooperation in investigations, prosecutions and judicial proceedings involving cross-border crimes.