On the eve of his maiden official visit to New Delhi, Premier Madhav Kumar Nepal on Monday affirmed that his country would not allow its soil to be used against India and sought the giant neighbour's cooperation in the fields of infrastructure development and power generation.

"This is basically a goodwill visit and I hope that it would take the existing cordial and close relations between the two countries to a new high," he said in an interview at his official residence ahead of his departure for New Delhi tomorrow on a five-day visit.

The purpose of the visit is to further deepen mutual trust and understanding, apart from exploring ways to expand cooperation, Nepal, 56, said. "We will review the Indo-Nepal relations in totality and find out where the hurdles are and suggest ways to clear them."

The Prime Minister also asserted that Nepal will never allow its soil to be used against India. "We are committed to not allowing our territory against the interests of neighbouring countries, including India." He said Nepal was also opposed to pursuing the policy of using one country against the other.

Nepal said that during his discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi, a host of issues, including extradition treaty, the review of the 1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty, Bhutanese refugee problem, Nepal's peace process and matters relating to security and border will be discussed.

"In the past we had initiated the process of reviewing the (Peace and Friendship) treaty," Nepal said, adding that this time also he would take up with his Indian counterpart the issue of review, update and adjustments in the 1950 pact.

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