KATHMANDU, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) — Speaker of the Nepalese Parliament Onsari Gharti left for China on Wednesday to attend the seventh Euro-Asia Economic Forum to be held in Xi’an in China’s northwestern Shaanxi Province.
In its three-day forum starting on Thursday, over 40 meetings will be held on topics such as finance, culture, science, and ecology.
Gharti is scheduled to deliver a speech during the forum.
“In her speech, she would reiterate Nepal’s commitment towards enhancing bilateral cooperation with China under the Belt and Road Initiative,” a media advisor to the speaker, Babin Sharma, told Xinhua.
The speaker is accompanied by nine officials including Secretary-General of the Parliament Manohar Prasad Bhattarai during her trip.
Nepal and China inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on bilateral cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative on May 12 in Kathmandu this year.
The MoU was aimed at enhancing cooperation on promoting connectivity of facilities, trade connectivity, financial integration and people-to-people exchanges.
As a significant part of the Belt and Road Initiative, the forum will adopt a “Forum-Exhibition-Investment Symposium” mode to help serve national strategy and introduce foreign investment, according to Wei Zengjun, vice-governor of Shaanxi province.
Established in 2005 and promoted by countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the forum was officially regarded as a platform to serve the Belt and Road Initiative and promote regional development.
The last forum was held in 2015, attracting 2,180 attendants from 53 countries and regions around the world.
The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, aiming at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes of Silk Road.