KATHMANDU, July 3 (Xinhua) — Nepali Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun will participate in the 23rd Lanzhou Investment and Trade Fair to be held in China’s western city of Lanzhou as the guest of honor, a key aide of the vice president said on Monday.
Manoj Gharti Magar, press adviser to the vice president, said the high-profile delegation comprises officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vice President’s Office.
The Nepali delegation will leave for China on Tuesday to attend the Lanzhou Investment and Trade Fair with a theme highlighting the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative on July 6-9.
High-level participation of Nepal in the Lanzhou fair is an opportunity to jointly push forward the Belt and Road Initiative as well as cementing the age-old China-Nepal friendship, officials said.
Nepal and China are expected to promote cooperation in connectivity, free trade arrangements and post-disaster reconstruction under a cooperation agreement signed on May 12 within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.
“Nepal wants to actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative and expand mutually beneficial cooperation so as to move forward the comprehensive cooperative partnership featuring ever-lasting friendship between the two countries,” Nepali Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi told Xinhua, adding that his country is willing to earnestly implement the consensus reached between leaders of the two countries.
The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes.