SINDHUPALCHOK, May 29: The Tatopani border point, Nepal's vital and the oldest trading point with the northern neighbor China that was closed following the April 2015 earthquakes, has resumed its operation on Wednesday.
Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Matrika Prasad Yadav and Chinese Vice Minister Zhang Jiwen jointly inaugurated the reopening of the Tatopani border point. Minister Yadav and Vice Minister Jiwen jointly cut the ribbon at the Friendship Bridge at Tatopani border point.
Addressing the event, Minister Yadav said that people-to-people ties between Nepal and China is equally cordial apart from political, economic and cultural relations. The minister expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for its contribution to re-open the Tatopani border point.
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Chinese Vice Minister Zhang expressed the hope that the Tatopani border point will again act as a bridge between the two countries. "I am here to convey the message of our President Xi Jinping that this border point will act as the bridge between our two countries," he said
On the occasion, four Chinese cargo trucks laden with wool entered Nepal. Likewise, two containers of handcrafts left for the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China via the border point.
With the formal announcement of the reopening of the border point, the trade has also resumed.
Until the earthquake, goods worth around 20 billion would be traded through the border annually earning the country over Rs 5 billion in taxes.
Except for Minister Yadav, lawmakers Agni Sapkota and Sher Bahadur Tamang and government secretaries attended the function.
The border had been temporarily reopened in 2016 but was closed again. It is formally coming into operation now after the completion of construction of a dry port at Larcha, some bridges and roads with Chinese assistance. The dry port sprawls over 90 ropani of land. The Chinese government spent Rs 1.2 billion in the infrastructures.
