Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister to visit China from March 25

BEIJING: Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha will visit China from March 25 to April 1, it was announced on Friday.

This will be the first visit by the Nepalese leader to Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a media briefing here.

Shrestha was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs on March 6 after Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ formed a new alliance with pro-Beijing Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) led by KP Sharma Oli.

Prachanda, a former guerilla leader, dumped the Nepali Congress and forged a new alliance with the CPN-UML– the second-biggest party – on March 4.