Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli today arrived in China on his first official visit to the country to clinch key deals including on transit and fuel import to avert a future blockade like the one the landlocked nation recently witnessed at the border with India.
Ahead of his talks with China's top leadership, the 64-year-old premier described Nepal's relationship with China as high as the Himalayas, which he said symbolise friendship.
He said the main purpose of his week-long visit, being undertaken at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang, is to get support and goodwill from Beijing.
Oli, leading a 50-member delegation, told Chinese state- run Xinhua news agency that transit and transport agreements with China are to be signed during his visit.
Nepal is eager to utilise sea ports of China, he added as he arrived seeking to scale up ties with Beijing to reduce landlocked Nepal's dependence on India.
"The two countries are working together in close cooperation.
"Nepal is a small neighbour of China and has lagged a little bit behind in development in Asia, but I believe that Nepal can benefit from China's progress on the economic front," he said.
He also expressed Nepal's interest to join China's 'Belt Road', the official term for Silk Road projects.
During the visit, Oli is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Chinese President Xi Jinping and hold bilateral talks with Li.
Oli's visit to the communist nation, which comes just over a month after he travelled to India in his first visit overseas, is being dubbed as the highest-level interaction between China and Nepal since establishment of the new Nepalese government last October.
He is expected to finalise agreements on importing fuel and gas besides transit and transportation deal to facilitate entry of Chinese goods including fuel and gas into landlocked Nepal through Tibet to reduce dependence on oil imports from India, ties with which suffered due to a crippling blockade of key border trade points by Madhesis who are largely of Indian- origin.
Tomorrow, the Nepalese premier will attend the welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People and hold bilateral talks with Li and discuss the matters relating to mutual interests and common concerns, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs said in a press release.
Following the talks, the two leaders will witness the signing ceremony of bilateral Agreements and Memorandum of Understandings by senior officials of both Nepal and China.
Nepalese Prime Minister's foreign affairs advisor Gopal Khanal said the two countries are considering a transit and trade agreement that would allow Nepal - whose only sea access is currently through Kolkata - the use of China's ports for third-country trade.
"This visit is aimed at diversifying Nepal's ties with China and preparing Nepal to be more independent," Khanal said.
Agreements on oil exploration, trademarks, and for the
construction of an international airport in Pokhara and a bridge over the Simikot-Hilsa road section that will connect Humla district to Tibet will also be signed during the visit, Minister for Industry Som Prasad Pandey had said.
Earlier Oli, whose Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist) advocates closer ties with Beijing, was expected to visit China first, breaking from the past practice of Nepalese Prime Ministers visiting India first.
He later opted to visit India as his government opened new initiatives to address the demands of the Madhesi agitation.
While his government accused India of imposing an unofficial blockade to back the Madhesis, it sought China's support to import essential oil and gas supplies to ease the scarcities.
China has supplied 1,000 MT of petroleum products at the height of Madhesi agitation to Nepal through the Tibet border.
Oli is scheduled to address scholars, academics, business people and students on the theme of 'Nepal-China Relations in the context of Belt and Road Initiatives'.
He will also address the Chinese and Nepali business community at the China Council for Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and the annual Boao Forum for Asia-2016 being organised under the theme "Asia's New Future: New Dynamics, New Vision" at Boao, Hainan province of China on March 24.
He will also witness the signing ceremony of MoU on Granting Nepal the Status of Dialogue Partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
During the visit, Oli will meet chairman of the Peoples' Political Consultative Conference Yu Zhengsheng and other other senior officials.
He will also inspect earthquake reconstruction zone and a hydroelectricity project in Sichuan province before returning home on March 27.
