Trilateral cooperation among China, India and Nepal urged(2)

"But slowly this consciousness is arising in China, India and Nepal. We should learn from the past but we should not dig up old disputes," Bhattarai said.

Bhattarai, who headed a coalition government for more than a year and resigned on March 14 to make way for interim election government, said that all parties must move forward.

"We should resolve old problems and embark on the path of development and prosperity for our people. This is in the interest of both India and China," Bhattarai said.The 59-year-old Maoist ideologue, who came to mainstream politics after a ten-year-long war, said his personal and his party's position is to forget the past and look to the future and have good relations between India and China.

"I believe even in India, this opinion is slowly gaining momentum and soon there will be great moments to have good relations between India and China as well as strengthen trilateral relations among the three countries," Bhattarai said.

Prachanda said that when he was in India, he explained to Indian leaders the strategic importance of a trilateral cooperation but the impression that he got was that India was not yet prepared to accept the arrangement.

Prachanda, who visited India one week after he returned from a week-long China visit on April 20, said, "Theoretically we can discuss on this issue but for implementation of trilateral cooperation, time has not come. We should not hurry, we should create that atmosphere. That was my understanding of the position of the Indian leadership."