Beijing/Kathmandu, Mar 22 (PTI) Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha will visit China from March 25 to April 1, it was announced on Friday.
Shrestha is also expected to visit the holy pilgrimage site of Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet during his visit.
This will be the first visit by the Nepalese leader to Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a media briefing in Beijing.
Shrestha is embarking on the official visit at the invitation of Wang Yi, member of the political bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Foreign Minister of China, according to a press release from Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Shrestha was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs on March 6 after Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ formed a new alliance with pro-Beijing Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) led by KP Sharma Oli.
Prachanda, a former guerilla leader, dumped the Nepali Congress and forged a new alliance with the CPN-UML– the second-biggest party – on March 4.
Local media reports in Nepal hinted that there was China’s hand in bringing about the recent change in the power structure in Nepal.
Shrestha will hold a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang, on March 26 and is also scheduled to meet other high-level dignitaries from the Chinese government in Beijing and other provinces, the statement read.
The minister is visiting China with plans to implement the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of China, which has so far failed to materialise despite seven years having passed since the agreement was inked between the two countries. BRI is China’s ambitious multi-country infrastructure project.
The Nepali Congress party had shown reservations about signing any loan agreement under BRI, which is believed to have made the northern neighbour unhappy.
Meanwhile, Shrestha is also expected to visit the holy pilgrimage site Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet during his visit to China.
Situated in the Ngari prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage is considered the most sacred by Hindus across the world. The two natural sacrosanct places are also revered by Buddhists, Jains and Tibet’s indigenous Bonpa faith.
Hundreds of devotees from Nepal and India visited the sacred place before the pandemic.
In September 2023, the then Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Prakash Saud and PM Prachanda had visited the Kailash Mansarovar region to carry out, as Saud described, “an on-site study of the area to create a suitable environment for millions of Hindu pilgrims from around the world, including India, to visit Kailash Mansarovar.” Post the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns, China opened the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage in 2023 but the massive hike in fees and multiple restrictions on visas, especially for Indian pilgrims, meant that practically the Yatra did not happen.
Nepal government wants to encash the opportunity to facilitate Indian pilgrims’ travel to the holy place in Tibet. PTI KJV SBP NPK AKJ NPK NPK
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