Nepal PM to meet Xi during China visit

KATHMANDU: Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Friday said he will embark on an official visit to China on September 22, during which he will meet President Xi Jinping and several other top leaders.

"After attending the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, I will leave straight for China’s city of Hangzhou," Prachanda, as the Prime Minister is popularly known, said in an address to Parliament.

“Nepal and China have shared long, cordial, and closed relations for centuries, and in recent years, these relations have become multi-dimensional and deepened too. China has become Nepal’s development partner and assisting Nepal in its overall developmental endeavors,” he added.

In his capacity as Prime Minister, this is Prachanda’s third visit to China, after making trips in 2008 and 2017.

"This visit will further strengthen the bilateral relations between Nepal and China and will deepen further," he added.

In Hangzhou, Prachanda will meet Xi and also attend the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games.

On September 25, he will meet his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang in Beijing where both leaders will hold delegation-level talks followed by the signing of the some agreements and understandings.

After completing engagements in Beijing, Prachanda will visit Chongqing city where he will make a trip to the Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other institutes, according to his schedule.

“After completing the visit in Chongqing, we will leave for Tibet where we will meet senior Chinese government officials with Nepal shares a long border. Then we will return to Kathmandu,” he added.

In his address to Parliament, the Prime Minister also said that discussions will take place seeking Chinese cooperation and assistance in areas like Nepal’s infrastructure development, agriculture, energy, tourism, health, education among others.

The Himalayan nation will also seek to open the Nepal-China border points which were shut in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

After the massive 2015 earthquake and the pandemic, several border points between Nepal and China were either totally shut down or have resumed only partially

"As the Prime Minister of Nepal, it is my belief that my visit will strengthen and deepen the traditional, friendly relations with China where we will also seek further avenues of bilateral cooperation," Prachanda added.