Nepal has signed a framework agreement with China on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This new agreement will pave the way for the implementation of the project after an initial agreement was signed seven years ago but no progress has been made. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal reported this information on Wednesday (December 4). British news agency Reuters reported this news.
Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli is on a four-day visit to Beijing from Monday. This is his first foreign visit since taking office in July. Breaking with tradition, he chose China instead of New Delhi for his first visit.
In 2017, Nepal and China signed a preliminary agreement for the BRI project. This Chinese initiative aims to establish global infrastructure and trade links. However, no project has been planned or implemented in the past seven years, as the framework of the agreement could not be defined and there was a lack of consensus among Nepal's political parties.
According to Wednesday's new agreement, both countries will move forward with detailed plans for projects, such as road development and construction of transport corridors and ways to finance them. But concerns over debt have sparked controversy within Nepal's Prime Minister Oli's coalition government. In particular, the Nepali Congress objected to any debt-based scheme.
Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in an X-A post that Nepal and China signed the Belt and Road Cooperation Framework today. However, the details have not been disclosed.
China has already loaned Nepal $216 million to build an international airport in Pokhara. It is located 125 km from Kathmandu and was commissioned last year. China has claimed the airport as a symbol of BRI's success, but it has faced problems due to lack of international flights due to lack of permission to use Indian airspace.
