Kathmandu, Apr. 7
To reduce the
trade deficit with China, Nepal has sought for the preferential treatment to
Nepali primary products such as tea, coffee, herbal products, cooked buffalo
meat, and other agricultural products.
Secretary
of Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bharat Raj Paudyal has proposed for the
preferential treatment to agricultural products from Nepal in China, Embassy of
Nepal in Beijing informed in a statement.
Although
China has provided duty-free access of more than 8,000 Nepali products, some of
the key agricultural products and herbs are not included in the list.
Foreign
Secretary Paudyal is in Beijing leading the Nepali delegation to participate in
the 15th meeting of the Bilateral Diplomatic Consultation Mechanism
between the foreign ministries of the two countries which was held on Friday
afternoon. Chinese delegation was led by Vice Minister, Sun Weidong.
The Chinese side
agreed to encourage Chinese investors to make investment in mutually beneficial
areas in Nepal.
Paudyal appreciated
the Chinese government for enlisting Nepal as one of the outbound destination
countries for group tourism. "The two sides discussed on promoting people
to people contacts and cultural cooperation, increasing the number of
scholarships to Nepali students and professionals, capacity development of technical
experts, among others," read the statement.
The meeting also
reviewed the progress of different infrastructure development projects under
China’s grant assistance as well as Chinese-contracted projects in Nepal and
agreed to expedite the implementation of the projects so as to complete them in
time.
According
to the Nepali embassy in Beijing, both sides took stock of the existing
Nepal-China bilateral relations and cooperation and deliberated on the ways to
further expanding and consolidating cooperation in various areas, including the
exchange of bilateral visits; economic cooperation; promotion of trade,
investment and tourism; building connectivity; and strengthening cooperation in
the fields of agriculture, education, culture and people-to-people relations,
among others.
On the occasion,
the two sides reviewed the cooperation between the two countries at the
multilateral forums, including in the United Nations, and exchange of mutual
support to each other’s candidatures.
In the meeting,
Foreign Secretary Paudyal was accompanied by Bishnu Pukar Shrestha, Ambassador
of Nepal to China, Lok Bahadur Thapa, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Nepal and other officials of the ministry and embassy in
Beijing. Likewise, the Chinese delegation comprised senior officials of its
Ministry of the Foreign Affairs.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 8 April 2023.
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