Chinese government will be requested to assist in construction of hydropower project and flyovers in the capital.
KATHMANDU, SEP 08 - Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala has left for a goodwill visit to China on Tuesday on the invitation of her Chinese counterpart Yang Jeichi. Talking to journalists at the Tribhuvan International Airport before departure, she informed the Chinese government will be requested to assist in construction of hydropower project and flyovers in the capital. While in China the Foreign Minister intends to discuss Nepal’s request for US$ 1b (Rs. 78b) Chinese soft loan through Exim bank to construct big infrastructure projects — construction of an international airport in Pokhara, 400 MW hydropower project in Nsyal Gadhi (Jajarkot), and road links to some remote district headquarters and three fly overs in Kathmandu Valley. Nepal had mooted these projects and the soft loan request in July this year. Construction of a dry port at Tatopani, a special economic zone in Paanchkhal, assistance to set up clean energy project, extension of Chinese rail to Nepal’s border and duty free access to 497 Nepali products in the Chinese market are also in Koirala’s list. She will not get to meet Chinese Prez, PM Minister Sujata is scheduled to meet her Chinese counterpart Jeichi and be paying a courtesy call on first vice prime minister of the state council Li Keqiang, an official at the Ministry said. However, she will not meet Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao during her five-day visit. The official added that the ministry had requested several times through its mission in Beijing and the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu for a meeting with Hu and Wen, “but in vain”. “The practicing diplomatic decorum states that the foreign minister usually does meet the head of state and government of the host country during such bilateral visit as courtesy call,” said a former ambassador, who did not want to be named. “This means China is not attaching priority to her visit, but merely taking it as routine,” a former foreign minister told the Post. A senior Chinese Embassy official said regarding Koirala’s meeting with the Chinese president and prime minister that there was no such official communication from Beijing.
Chinese government will be requested to assist in construction of hydropower project and flyovers in the capital.
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