China has invited Prime Minister Bhattarai, who did not have opportunity to visit the northern neighbor even after 19 months in power, to attend China-South Asia Expo. [break]
The prime minister has been invited along with Nepalese delegation to attend the Expo scheduled to be held in Kunming of South-Western Yunan Province from June 6 to 9.
According to Nepalese ambassador to China Mahesh Maskey, governor of Yunan Province Li Jiheng had extended the invitation to the prime minister through the embassy on Friday. The visit of the prime minister, however, is likely to be affected as negotiations among parties in Nepal are underway to form a new election government.
"Efforts were underway for long to arrange the visit of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai to China. But China has now found its convenient for the visit to take place," said Ambassador Maskey. "The visit now depends on the political situation back home in Nepal."
It is learnt that the visit of Prime Minister, however, won´t be official political visit. Sources close to Chinese Foreign Ministry said Chinese President and Prime Minister will hold meetings with the leaders of South Asian countries on the occasion.
Though Prime Minister Bhattarai, who is also considered close to India, had paid official visit to India immediately after assuming the post of prime minister, he is yet to make a visit to northern neighbor.
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