Nepal’s top politician Prachanda in China’s Sichuan University
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s top politician and Chairman of UCPN (Maoist) Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, who is in a weeklong China visit, has pledged to take steps for creating an investment-friendly business environment to encourage Chinese investments in Nepal.
He wished the Chinese investment especially in water resources, industrial development and transport networks.
Addressing a gathering of intellectuals and scholars at a program held at the Sichuan University in Chengdu of Sichuan province of China on Monday, Chairman Dahal, currently on a visit of the People’s Republic of China, said foreign investors are to get full protection according to the Home Ministry’s comprehensive national security plan to strengthen order and security in the country.
He also thanked China for the valuable economic and technical support it has been providing over the years as Nepal’s development partner, particularly for the recent duty free facility for 7787 export items.
Describing bilateral relations with China as ‘excellent’, the UCPN (Maoist) Chairman said Nepal has always been a staunch supporter of one China policy, and has thereby never allowed its territory to be used against the interest of China.
“Sovereign equality, mutual respect, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, friendship and mutual cooperation are the cornerstones of our bilateral relations with all countries”, he said.
Speaking about the current situation in Nepal, Chairman Prachanda said Nepal is now trying to draft a new constitution after electing a new Constituent Assembly and hope that the proposed CA elections would institutionalize and stabilize peace, democracy and justice in the country.
“The dissolution of the previous CA was caused by the combined effects of the reluctance of the traditional parliamentary parties to grant rights to marginalized people through federalism and the limitation on the tenure fixed by the Supreme Court”, he said.
“We believe giving a greater say to the marginalized groups in the national processes can lead to a situation where the deep-seated differences vanish to promote fraternity, reconciliation and tolerance among all sections of the population to maintain national unity and harmony”, he added.
During his speech, the former Prime Minister said he believed that Nepal could play a very important role in enhancing friendship and mutual cooperation between India and China, and their mutual cooperation was the best safeguard of Nepal’s national interest.
“China and India can provide relief to our ailing economy by allowing the entry of our products at zero or concessional tariff rates and encouraging their citizens to visit us for correcting the adverse balance of payment”, Dahal noted.
The concept of more prosperous countries extending cooperation to less developed countries has relevance to regional security, stability and development in Asia, he added.
Likewise, Chairman Prachanda also called for more collaborative efforts to protect the environment and counteract the ill effects of global warming so that the perennial sources of rivers originating from snow clad mountains including the Mount Everest don’t become a thing of the past.