Kathmandu,
Feb. 12: Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong Monday said that China was willing
to work with Nepal closely to seize the historical chance to develop a concrete
cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and bring the relations
between the two neighbours to a new height.
“The Belt
and Road Initiative (BRI) will bring new opportunities to enhance cooperation
between China and Nepal by expanding connectivity and sharing the experience
for economic development,” she said at a seminar on ‘Strengthening cooperation
to promote the construction of the BRI between Nepal and China’ today.
According to
her, lack of infrastructure, especially poor transport infrastructure situation,
has become the major constraints for the economic development of Nepal which is
hindering the development of agriculture, industry, tourism and other areas.
She said
that China wanted to be a partner in Nepal’s endeavour in the construction of
infrastructure such as roads, airports, dry-ports, while facilitation and
support from the Nepali side was expected so as to complete the related
projects at the earliest.
Yu urged for
strengthening the policy coordination and consolidation of mutual trust, promoting
unimpeded trade, deepening the financial integration, strengthening the
people-to-people bond for mutual learning and jointly building the road for
win-win cooperation.
“To promote unimpeded trade, China and Nepal
are pushing forward the joint feasibility study of China-Nepal Free Trade
Agreement, the construction of China-Nepal Cross-Border Economic Cooperation
Zones and the negotiation on signing the Bilateral
Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement,” she said.
Secretary at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs Shankar Das Bairagi said that connectivity was the core
element in Nepal-China relationship.
President of the Nepal
China Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the organiser of the event, Rajesh Kazi
Shrestha said that Nepal ought to strengthen the capabilities and amend the law
and policies with long-term vision to grab the future opportunities.
However, foreign
experts and businessmen criticised the government for its failure in developing
proper infrastructure for the trade with China and delay in implementing the
past agreements with the northern neighbour.
They said
that Nepal failed to present bankable business and infrastructure projects to
China, and was yet to reap the benefits of trade with the latter.
“Nepal
should move to multi-dependency from its current over-dependency on India. Trade
should be diversified as soon as possible,” said Hiranya Lal Shrestha, former
ambassador.
He said that the BRI would herald a new era of
development in the region.
Shambhu Ram Simkhada, former Ambassador, also said that
Nepal should not miss the opportunity offered by the BRI and need to enhance
its capacity in terms of infrastructure and implementation.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 13 February 2018.
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