by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli
Kathmandu : Former Nepal Prime Ministers have expressed hope that Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s upcoming visit to China will be instrumental in further deepening bilateral ties between the two countries.
At a meeting summoned on Sunday evening by Oli, Sher Bahadur Deuba expressed happiness over the upcoming visit, reports Xinhua news agency.
Deuba, who is also the leader of major opposition party in the Parliament, said the visit will be fruitful in serving the national interests of Nepal.
Pushpa Kamal Dahal stressed the need to promote cooperation between China and South Asia.
Jhalanath Khanal stressed the need to establish a strong railroad connectivity between Nepal and China.
Madhav Kumar Nepal advised Oli to utilise the visit as an opportunity to push forward the multi-faceted ties between Nepal and China to a strategic level.
Baburam Bhattarai was of the view that Nepal should seek support from China to develop railroad connectivity projects under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.
Oli’s visit will begin on Jun 19. It ends on June 24.
This is Oli’s first visit to China since he came to power in February.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, Emerging Businesses, News, Politics
New Delhi : After months of stress in ties, India and Nepal on Saturday agreed to crank-up cooperation in connectivity, trade, agriculture and border security as Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave an assurance that New Delhi remains committed to strengthening the partnership as per Nepal’s priorities.
Seeking to readjust the ties, Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, on a three-day visit to India, held wide-ranging talks with Modi, who also assured the visiting leader that India would always back Nepal in its quest for development.
A joint statement issued after the talks said Prime Minister Oli stated that his government attaches high importance to further strengthening friendly relations with India. He expressed the desire of the Government of Nepal to develop bilateral relations in a way so as to benefit from India’s progress and prosperity for economic transformation and development.
“Prime Minister Modi assured Prime Minister Oli that India remains committed to strengthening its partnership with Nepal as per the priorities of the Government of Nepal,” the statement said.
Oli, who has developed closer ties with China with a known pro-Beijing stance, said he has come to India “with a mission” to take bilateral ties based on “principles of equality and justice” to newer heights but “commensurate with the realities of the 21st Century”.
In a joint address to the media with Oli, Modi hailed the Nepal Prime Minister’s “vision for a prosperous Nepal” that is in sync with his vision of “sabka sath, sabka vikas” (development for all).
“India stands ready to expand cooperation with Nepal as per Nepal’s priorities. We believe that enhanced connectivity between our countries will boost our economic growth and benefit our citizens.”
Modi hailed successful conduct of polls in Nepal and congratulated both the people of Nepal and the government for entering into “a new era of political history”.
He said the two countries agreed to put on faster tracks all connectivity projects, announcing that a new railway line will be built “with India’s financial support” to connect the border city of Raxaul in India to Kathmandu in Nepal.
The objective, according to a joint statement, is to expand “connectivity” between the two neighbours and “enhance people-to-people linkages and promote economic growth and development”.
Prime Ministers Modi and Oli also recognised the untapped potential of inland waterways between the countries that can contribute in an overall economic development of the Himalayan region.
Towards that, the statement said, they took a “landmark decision” to develop the inland waterways for the movement of cargo, within the framework of trade and transit arrangements, providing additional access to sea for Nepal.
This will enable cost effective and efficient movement of cargo and greatly impact the growth of business and economy of Nepal.
The connectivity proposals are significant and come nearly two years after China in March 2016 agreed to construct a strategic railway link with Nepal through Tibet to reduce the Kathmandu’s total dependence on India.
That year China also signed a transit trade treaty with Nepal that completely depends on Indian sea ports for third-country trade. Apart from this, China is also building three highways connecting Nepal and these roads are expected to be ready by 2020.
The Nepal-China agreements came at a time when Kathmandu-New Delhi ties started soaring after a border blockade in 2015-16. Many in Kathmandu blamed India for the 135-day blockade from September, 2015 to February, 2016 that crippled Nepal’s economy.
China expanding its strategic base in Nepal sparked concerns in India that it was losing its foothold in its immediate backyard despite its “neighbourhood first” policy.
But Oli’s April 6-8 visit indicated a new India-Nepal bonhomie during which he and Modi announced enhanced security ties, particularly on borders to curb curb misuse of open boundaries between the two countries.
“We have strong relations when it comes to the aspect of security and are committed towards stopping misuse of our open borders,” said Modi, with Oli by his side.
Oli said his government accorded a priority to friends like India that has helped his landlocked nation in fighting poverty.
“Friendship is very important. We have developed our friendship according to time with a purpose to eradicate poverty, improve life standards. Our friendship is historical, renewed, developed and is very fruitful. Looking ahead and not looking back”
He said his country always accorded “great importance” to its ties with India as the two neighbours have many “things to offer each other”.
“Inter-dependence takes many forms between our countries. Relations between neighbours are different than others. They rest on principles of equality and justice.
“I have come to India with a mission to enhance our relations to newer heights commensurate with the realities of the 21st Century. We want to create a model relationship. A relationship that is cherished forever,” he said, renewing his invitation to Modi to pay a visit to Nepal at the earliest.
Boosting their ties further, India also agreed to conduct a pilot project on organic farming and soil health monitoring in Nepal to help the natural resource-rich neighbour in developing agriculture and allied sectors.
Oli and his wife Radika Shakya, who arrived here on Friday, earlier paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat, before driving to the President’s house for a ceremonial welcome.
Viewed as an important visit, Oli has flew in a 54-member high-level delegation to India, seeking more investment from India’s public as well as private sector.
This is Oli’s first foriegn trip after returning to power for the second term in February.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Kathmandu : The death toll in the US-Bangla Airlines plane crash in Nepal climbed to 51 after two more people succumbed to injuries in hospital here on Tuesday as the Nepali government formed a probe panel to investigate the aviation disaster.
The Nepali Home Ministry said in a press release that 22 Nepalis, 28 Bangladeshis and a Chinese passenger lost their lives in Monday’s accident — the worst in the Himalayan nation since a 1992 Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) crash that claimed 167 lives.
The injured were receiving treatment at various hospitals in Nepal. There were 71 passengers, including four crew members on board when the ill-fated aircraft crashed on Monday while landing at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
Investigators retrieved the flight data recorder from the wreckage of the plane. The aircraft caught fire when it narrowly escaped hitting the tail of a Thai Airways plane parked along the runway. The ill-fated plane was said to have circled the airport twice before trying to land, the Kathmandu Post reported.
According to preliminary findings, the 78-seater Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft crashed due to a communication error between the cockpit and the control tower. The airline and airport authorities blamed each other for the disaster.
While the airline blamed air traffic control, the airport said the plane landed from the wrong direction due to pilot’s “missed approach”.
Environment Minister Lal Babu Pandit told the media that a probe panel — to be headed by former Secretary Yagya Prasad Gautam — had been formed to investigate the aviation disaster.
Meanwhile, relatives of the Bangladeshi victims of the plane crash arrived here to identify their kin.
“One of our flights already reached Kathmandu with 46 relatives and family members of victims and officials. We are now working on bringing the bodies back home and ensuring medical treatment for injured victims,” a spokesman for the US-Bangla Airlines, Kamrul Islam, said.
Bangladesh’s Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism A.K.M. Shahjahan Kamal and Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali were in Nepal taking stock of the situation.
Two officials from Bangladesh’s Ministry of Planning, who were travelling to Nepal for a regional symposium on ecosystem services and poverty alleviation in South Asia, were among the dead.
Meanwhile, the Kathmandu-based Secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) conveyed condolences to the peoples and governments of Bangladesh and Nepal over the loss of lives in the horrific accident.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Kathmandu : A team of doctors from China’s Sichuan province have launched a week-long free health camp in Nepal.
During the inauguration on Sunday, the team said the health camp will begin from Monday from a village in Dhulikhel, some 30 km from Kathmandu, reports Xinhua news agency.
The 20-member delegation, led by He Guangxian, deputy inspector of Sichuan provincial foreign affairs office, comprises 17 doctors.
They will provide specialised medical services on orthopedics, diabetes, hypertension and respiratory diseases, among others.
“We are dedicated to supporting the health of Nepali people and their happiness through our medical camps. We will also hold interaction with local health workers and share our skills and experiences,” a member from the team said.
Deputy Chief of Mission at Chinese Embassy in Nepal Yang Shichao expressed hope that the free health camp will be highly beneficial to the people who have less access to medical treatment.
The Sichuan team had also offered free medical services after the devastating earthquake of 2015 which killed nearly 9,000 people and left tens of thousands injured.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Beijing, China : Nepal’s Foreign Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara yesterday called for more Chinese investments in the Himalayan nation, saying Kathmandu is focused on increasing connectivity with Beijing.
Inaugurating the newly-established office of the Consulate General of Nepal at the port city of Guangzhou in China, Mahara, who is also the deputy prime minister, said: “there are good opportunities for investments in inter-country railways, roads and transmission lines”.
“Nepal is focusing on investment in infrastructure development and inter-country economic sector in order to increase connectivity between both the countries,” the visiting Nepalese leader said.
He also expressed belief that the office will contribute in strengthening bilateral ties and broaden relations in the economic sector, Nepal’s foreign ministry said.
Mahara said that economic and trade activities will surge with the establishment of the consulate.
He also added that the relations between people of the two countries will enhance further in the coming days.
Foreign Minister Mahara is on a six-day visit to China for talks with senior Chinese leaders on the invitation of his counterpart Wang Yi.
Nepal in May inked a deal with China to join Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitious ‘One Belt One Road’ (OBOR) initiative to link Asia with Europe.
The newly-established consulate is Nepal’s fourth such office in China.
There are 200 Nepalese businessmen engaged in various businesses in Guangzhou.
—NNN-PTI
