The meeting held on Wednesday paved the way for the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to officially request China for opening a new consulate general office at Chengdu city in Sichuan province, the second nearest province to Nepal after Tibet.
Nepal has a consulate general office in Hong Kong, which was established when the state was under the British rule. Nepal already has its consulate general office in Lhasa of Tibet as well, which is the only foreign diplomatic mission that China has allowed in Tibet, after it removed India's consulate general office following the 1962 China-India war. Last year, China had turned down India's proposal to re-establish consulate general office in Lhasa.
Though Nepal has 64 percent trade with India, the country has a single consulate general office in Kolkata.
China itself had proposed Nepal to open a consulate general office at Chengdu along with expressing interest to open its consulate general office in Pokhara, during Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa in December.
“An understanding was reached between officials of both nations during Foreign Minister Thapa's visit to China. The cabinet's approval has paved way for official requesting China for its consent,” Minister for Commerce Dipak Bihara told Republica.
After Indian unofficial blockade along Nepal-India major custom points since four months, Nepal has been approaching China for importing fuel and other essential goods.
Nepal has only five consulate general office abroad, including one in New York of US and another in Jeddah of Saudi Arabia.
Similarly the cabinet meeting also decided to form a high level communication committee to draft mass communication policy in accordance with the new constitution.
According to government spokesperson Sherdhan Rai, Chairman of Press Council Borna Bahadur Karki and Federation of Nepali Journalists President Mahendra Bista have been appointed as members of this committee. Other representatives and members will be appointed by the ministry of information and communications, he informed.
The meeting also promoted 21 under secretaries to joint secretaries.
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