Though Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's ongoing visit to China was expected to give final shape to commercial petroleum deal, the 10-point agreement that Oli signed with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang did not include the commercial fuel trade issue. Rather, an agreement was made to exchange letters between the two nations to initiate feasibility study for exploration of oil and gas resources on Chinese assistance to Nepal.Government officials including Supplies Minister Ganesh Man Pun and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa, on their return from visit to China last year, had said that fuel accord would be signed with China during Oli's visit. Moreover, Supplies Minister Pun and chief advisor to the prime minister, Bishnu Rimal, had also said that commercial petro deal would be signed with China during Oli's visit.
However, some officials of the Oli-led delegation said that a joint statement to be issued by both nations on Tuesday will talk about the fuel accord and other necessary infrastructures related to it.
Former commerce secretary Purshottam Ojha said that an immediate Nepal-China fuel trade was not possible as Nepal lacks enough infrastructures. "Even if the commercial fuel trade deal is signed between the two nations, it cannot be implemented unless Nepal develops enough infrastructures for fuel trading," said Ojha.
The issue of Nepal-China commercial fuel trade took the center stage after the two nations signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to supply petroleum products to Nepal in October last year. Nepal was seeking options for fuel trade besides India after the southern neighbor imposed blockade on Nepal last September and hindered supply of fuel for months, which crippled the situation of Nepal a lot. Under the MoU with China, China is said to supply one third of the demand of petroleum products in Nepali market.
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