Nepal Foreign Affairs (Kathmandu, Dec. 24): Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kamal Thapa, who is on a six-day official visit to China, paid a courtesy call on Chinese Vice President Yuanchao, at the Great Hall of the people in Beijing on Thursday afternoon.
During the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister expressed happiness over the excellent state of bilateral relations subsisting between the two countries in the last six decade and underlined the need for furthering cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, tourism and energy as well as other productive sectors.
“In this context cooperation between the two countries in developing and upgrading border trade points and concluding a transit treaty between the two countries would be crucial,” the deputy prime minister told the Chinese Vice president in the meeting.
The foreign minister thanked the people and the Government of china for their continued and generous support in Nepal’s Development efforts. He also conveyed deep appreciation for generous and spontaneous support received from china in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes earlier this year, according to the press release.
While warmly welcoming Minister Thapa as the first high level dignitary to visit china since the formation of the government under the new constitution, the Chinese vice president stated “The visit assumes special significance in the commemorative year of the sixtieth anniversary and assured him of china’s full support and cooperation for the development of Nepal in the post-quake reconstruction endeavors.” Recalling the grant assistance of 1000 metric tons of Petroleum product, Chinese vice president Li expressed the possibility of further support to Nepal in this regard, the press release said. On the occasion, both the sides shared that high level exchange of visits between the two countries would help further strengthen bilateral ties.
Law Minister Agni Prasad Kharel, Nepalese Ambassador to China Dr Mahesh Maskey, Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi, Finance Secretary Lokdarshan Regmi and Commerce Secretary Naindra Prasad Upadhaya, Joint Secretaries Jhabindra Aryal (MoFA), Nirman Raj Kafle (DCM at Nepal Embassy), Umesh Jha (Physical Planning and Infrastructure) and Fanindra Gautam (Ministry of Law) were present from the Nepali side.
On the occasion, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Liu Jianchao, and other senior officials were present from the Chinese side. Embassy of Nepal in Beijing hosted a welcome dinner in honor of the visiting Nepali delegation at the embassy on Thursday evening. Upon arrival in Beijing this morning, the delegation was received by Nepali Ambassador Maskey, senior officials of the embassy as well as senior officials from the Chinese Foreign Ministry at the Beijing Capital International Airport.