What prompted you to establish sister city relationship with Pokhara?
The relationship is the outcome of efforts made by Nepal-China Sister City Friendship Association. It is because of the proper coordination of the association that we have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish sister city relationship with Pokhara. This is my first visit to Nepal and I will study the country more closely in my upcoming visits. I will be in the position to say what we can do only after my second visit to this country.
Pokhara and Kunming have many similarities. We also have a lake in the southern part of Kunming. But it is badly polluted and we have been trying to clean it. Fewa Lake is very beautiful and free from pollution. We can learn something from Pokhara in this direction. Similarly, we have a snow-capped mountain about 100 kilometers away from Kunming. In Pokhara, there is a beautiful mountain range with peaks like Machhapuchhre, Annapurna and Dhaulagiri. This can be one of the reasons for people of Kunming to visit Pokhara.
What are your plans to support Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) 2011 campaign?
I can send hundreds of people from Kunming just by showing pictures and visuals of snow-capped peaks and lakes of Pokhara. Kunming is a city inhabited by about 10 million people. If we managed to encourage some of them to Nepal, it can be a great support to the campaign.
Movement of tourists between the two countries is very low. Do youth think this is because of few options in flights?
This can be. Most probably, China Eastern Airlines will resume flights on Kunming-Kathmandu-Kunming route very soon. If the flights resume, we can send hundreds of tourists from Kunming to Nepal every month. As the flight duration is just two and a half hours, we can expect more Chinese to travel to Nepal.
Now that Kunming and Pokhara are sister cities, how can China help in the development of Pokhara?
We can do a lot of things for the development of tourism industry in Pokhara. Chief executive of Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City has told me that more than 60 percent of the city´s revenue comes from tourism sector which is a very important thing. We are planning to share the experience of Kunming to help Pokhara design a master plan for development. We are exploring the possibility of helping Nepal in railways, road, education, health and industrial sectors.
What can Nepal expect from Kunming which is seeing rapid development in recent years?
After establishing sister city ties with Pokhara, we can expand our trade to other Nepali cities as well. This relationship can work as an important bridge for us to expand and promote trade between the two countries. Though I am yet to learn more about Nepal, I am highly impressed by my first visit.
What challenges and opportunities did you see here in your short trip?
Pace of development can be faster if Nepal enforced rule of law and adopted open market economy. For a developing country like Nepal, political stability is a must for overall development. Nepal´s bottleneck is lack of infrastructure development. China can help Nepal overcome this by helping in infrastructure development.