Oil deal with China at any cost: Minister Pun

December 23, Kathmandu.

Minister for Commerce and Supplies Ganesh Man Pun Tuesday said that the government would ink an oil trade deal with China at any cost.

Speaking to the journalists at the Ministry, Pun informed that the government had observed oil refinery, port, road and border transit of the northern neighbour in the past two months. "The process was delayed because it demanded talks at the government level."

According to Minister Pun, Nepal has urged China to operate the Tatopani-Khasa border at the earliest. "Even during the sideline meeting with the Chinese minister at the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s Ministerial Meeting in Nairobi, we specially urged to bring Tatopani border to operation."

Updating the journalists about his recent participation in the 10^th WTO Ministerial Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, he claimed that the government used the global forum to internationalize the issue of Indian blockade and short supply of essential goods including fuel and cooking gas.

"Many Landlocked and Least Developed Countries (LLDCs) like Nepal still find it difficult to enjoy even the fundamental rights of transit and free access to sea. Periodic hardships and hassles in the utilization of transit transport facilities come to their misery under one or the other pretext. As any disruption in transit transport is tantamount to cutting the vital lifeline of an LLDC economy, we stress that there must be a guarantee of unobstructed transit transport connectivity for all landlocked countries at all times," read the Minister's statement presented at the summit.

"Even the Indian minister and government officials realized the troubles that Nepalese people are currently going through. As a landlocked nation, we discussed the issue with all the LLDCs," he said.

Minister Pun led a Nepalese delegation to the meeting which included secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, Naindra Prasad Upadhyaya and other government officials.

Naindra Prasad Upadhyaya, secretary at the MoCS, said that the government was committed to curbing the black marketing and ease the supply of fuel and other essential goods.