Nepal, China sign 9 agreements

Nepal and China signed nine agreements in Beijing on Tuesday, but the absence of any significant and meaningful reference to the Belt and Road Initiative in any of them indicates that the clash between two major parties in Nepal’s coalition government may have come as a major disappointment to China.

Tuesday was the second day of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli’s four-day official visit. The exchange of MOUs took place soon after a meeting between Oli and his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang.

According to Krishna Prasad, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nepal, besides exchange of completion certificate of the historic 9-storey Nau-Talle Durbar that was restored by China following its devastation during the 2015 earthquake, MOUs on construction of Tokha-Chhahare tunnel, supply of processed Buffalo meat to China and assistance to promote Chinese language in Nepal were signed.