KATHMANDU, April 18: Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav, who returned on Saturday from a high-level visit to China, said that China had agreed to increase its annual aid to Nepal, from RMB 100 million to RMB 150 million (Rs 1.75 billion) and that China was ‘positive’ about providing duty free access to 497 Nepali items currently available in the Chinese market. He said that China was providing the duty free access to reduce the trade deficit between the two countries. [break]
In addition, said Yadav, while addressing a press meet at the Tribhuvan International Airport, the Rampur College in Chitwan would with Chinese assistance be converted into an advanced agriculture university.
FM Yadav said that issues ranging from infrastructure development, tourism promotion, ways to improve connectivity between the two countries, and science and technology to the ongoing peace process in Nepal figured in the talks between the two sides.
“Discussions were held to elevate the relation between the two countries to new heights,” he said, adding, “The current load-shedding problem faced by Nepal also came up in the talks, and China is positive about increasing investment in Nepal’s hydropower sector.”
The foreign minister further said that there was an urgent need to accord the highest priority to guaranteeing security and maintaining law and order in the country.
“If we can guarantee security in the country, there will be no shortage of our friends wanting to help Nepal,” said Yadav.
And while the minister responded to a query that probed the issue of the bilateral treaty between Nepal and China by saying that ‘no discussion’ had taken place, he did, however, add that the prime minister would be visiting China in the first week of May.
In China, Yadav met with his counterpart Yang Jeichi, the administrative chief of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, Chhamba Puntsog, and the head of the international department of the Communist Party of China, Wang Jia Rui.
In Hong Kong and Macau, Minister Yadav met with the regions’ chief secretaries and held talks on security issues for Nepali workers and the possibilities of making available transit and work visas to the Nepalis. He also interacted with NRNs in Hong Kong.
During his trip, Yadav also attended the conference on the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, in Indonesia.
