India and Nepal will hold the 16th edition of the joint military training exercise 'Surya Kiran' from Friday to cement the friendship between the two armies. A team from the Indian Army arrived in Nepal on Wednesday to participate in military exercises to take place at Saljhandi in Rupandehi near the Nepal-India border. "Indian Army troops arrived today in Saljhandi, Nepal for the 16th Joint India-Nepal Military Ex #SURYAKIRAN. The exercises are a paragon for the exchange of professional experience & cementing the friendship between two armies," the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu tweeted on Wednesday. The 15th edition of the joint exercise was held in Pithoragarh in which 650 soldiers from both sides participated. Indian Army chief General Manoj Pande visited Nepal in September. During the visit, General Pande was conferred with the honorary rank of General of the Nepali Army by President Bidya Devi Bhandari. Apart from meeting his counterpart General Prabhu Ram Sharma, the Chief of Army Staff of the Nepali Army, General Pande also called on Nepali Prime Minister and Defence Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Nepal is important for India in the context of its overall strategic interests in the region, and the leaders of the two countries have often noted the age-old “Roti Beti” relationship. The country shares a border of over 1,850 km with five Indian states – Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Land-locked Nepal relies heavily on India for the transportation of goods and services.
