Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to visit Nepal from March 25 to 27

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is scheduled to visit Nepal from March 25 to 27 and hold bilateral talks with his Nepali counterpart Narayan Khadka.

"At the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China Wang Yi is visiting Nepal from 25 to 27 March 2022," Nepal Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

During the visit, Wang will pay courtesy calls to President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba.

On March 26, Khadka and Wang Yi will hold bilateral talks, leading their respective delegations.

Wang Yi will also meet with former Prime Minister and Chairman of CPN-UML K P Sharma Oli, and former Prime Minister and Chairman of CPN-Maoist Centre Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', the statement said.

China's Foreign Minister will be visiting Nepal to push for the implementation of China's infrastructure development strategy, the 'Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)'.

During his visit, Wang Yi will look to sign at least two projects, The Kathmandu Post reported.

"We have already received the text of the project implementation plan of the BRI from China," a senior Nepali government official told the Post, adding that "both sides during the visit are expected to agree on the text of the project implementation plan, which will pave the way for the execution of BRI projects".

Nepal signed the BRI agreement back in 2017. Back then it was regarded as a watershed moment in Nepal and China bilateral ties. However, no project took off over concerns regarding the Chinese infrastructure programme.