look news india
Kathmandu, 04 December (HS). After Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s visit to China, both the countries have issued a joint statement. In this statement, it has been written that the much talked about Belt and Road Initiative Framework Agreement should be concluded as soon as possible. This means that the possibility of signing the implementation agreement of BRI during this visit of Prime Minister Oli has ended for now.
The Prime Minister’s visit to China hinged entirely on the signing of the BRI implementation agreement and the waiver of the loan taken for the construction of Pokhara Airport. But at present the matter is stuck due to China not agreeing to either of them. In Nepal’s media, it is being described as a diplomatic failure of Prime Minister Oli and Foreign Minister Dr. Arju Rana.
There was no discussion of these issues during the meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Li Qiang. After both these meetings, there has been no mention of BRI and Pokhara Airport anywhere in the separate statements issued by both the sides.
In a joint statement issued by the Foreign Ministry of both the countries late on Tuesday night, it has been expressed commitment to sign the BRI framework as soon as possible. Apart from this, other projects proposed by Nepal have also been given a place in the joint statement but there is nothing new in them. The projects mentioned in the joint statement were also put forward during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Nepal in 2017.
China has again announced a grant of Rs 9 billion to Nepal. But the question is also being raised in Nepal that till now there is no news of discovery of Rs 56 billion announced during the visit of Chinese President Jinping to Nepal. In such a situation, the announcement of Rs 9 billion once again has no meaning.