India has appointed Naveen Srivastava as the country’s new ambassador to Nepal.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs made the announcement on Tuesday, one day after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s one-day Lumbini visit. The ministry says Srivastava is expected to arrive in Kathmandu and take over his office shortly.

The position was vacant as India recently called back its ambassador to Nepal, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, and promoted him as the foreign secretary.

According to Indian media, Naveen Srivastava, who is in the Indian foreign service since 1993, is a China expert.

Srivastava, a 1993 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS), is currently serving as additional secretary in the MEA.

Vinay Mohan Kwatra, who became foreign secretary over two weeks ago, was serving as India’s envoy to Nepal before his appointment.

In his capacity as additional secretary in the east Asia division, Srivastava headed the Indian delegation in several rounds of diplomatic talks in the virtual format with China on the eastern Ladakh border row.

He was also part of the Indian delegation in a few rounds of military talks between the two side on the border row. Nepal is important for India in the context of its overall strategic interests in the region.

Nepal shares a border of over 1,850 km with five Indian states – Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The land-locked country relies heavily on India for the transportation of goods and services.

Nepal’s access to the sea is through India, and it imports a predominant proportion of its requirements from and through India.

The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 forms the bedrock of the special relations between the two countries.