With economic transformation underway in India, new opportunities are opening up for cooperation between India and Nepal in particular, given our open border and national treatment accorded to each other's citizens," he said."These lessons could be of benefit to Nepal as it embarks on its own path of building democracy," he told Nepalese dailies Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post in an interview.Mukherjee said India's engagement with Nepal will always be guided by the long-term interests of both the countries.Madhesis, the inhabitants of southern plains who share close ties with Indians, had launched months-long agitation demanding more political representation and had alleged the Constitution Nepal adopted in September last year was discriminatory to their interest.Like any relationship of "this depth and intensity, there are times when we may have differing perceptions on certain aspects," he said on questions about India's position on the Madhesi protests that led to a blockade of border checkpoints and caused shortage of essential commodities in the landlocked country, effectively nosediving the bilateral ties briefly. Kathmandu: President Pranab Mukherjee has underlined the need to involve every section of the Nepalese society as "equal stakeholders" in the process of building democracy, in an apparent reference to the political upheaval over the new Constitution that had strained Indo-Nepal ties.On Nepal's request to India to allow the Visakhapatnam Port for transport of its goods, Mukherjee said the facility has already been made available to Nepal."(And) let us not forget that ours is a unique partnership, which is driven by extensive contacts between our two peoples.As a close neighbour, India is interested in peace, stability and progress of Nepal, said Mukherjee, who is the first Indian President to visit Nepal in 18 years. 

This has been the case throughout the history of India-Nepal relations," he said.Mukherjee said both the countries have tremendous untapped potential to boost cooperation in hydropower and connectivity."India continues to attach importance to cooperation within the framework of SAARC.Asked if India has reservations on exploring trilateral relations between India, Nepal and China, Mukherjee said India has an age-old, multi-faceted and time-tested ties with Nepal.. We remain open to any ideas, which will be mutually advantageous and enable economic development and well-being of the people of Nepal," he said without commenting of the possibility of a trilateral engagement. The open border is its most unique characteristic.Mukherjee said because of the shared border, developments within Nepal "can impact on the flows across it."Our ties with Nepal have their own natural logic.