Chinese President Xi will visit Nepal soon: PM Oli

KATHMANDU, June 24: Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli Sunday said that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Nepal soon.

PM Oli returned home on Sunday after concluding his six-day official state visit to China.

“The Chinese President will come to Nepal very soon. Xi, during one-to-one meeting with me in Beijing, has expressed willing to visit Nepal. We are eager to welcome him in Kathmandu,” Oli told journalists upon his return from China at Tribhuvan International Airport.

Oli further said that Nepal and China have already agreed bringing railway to Kathmandu. “Feasibility study and DPR on railway project will be conducted soon,” he added.

Oli during his visit signed 14 bilateral agreements with China—that included deals on energy energy co-operation, investment and co-operation on production capacity, economic and technical co-operation, reconstruction of friendship bridge and Rasuwa bridge, protocol on the utilization of highways in Tibet Autonomous Region by Nepal for cargo transport, human resource development co-operation, formation of Ministry of Foreign Affairs level mechanisms for facilitation on Nepal-China cooperation projects, 159-km long Kerung-Galchhi transmission line—and most significantly Kathmandu-Kerung railway.

“Agreement on railway is one of the most significant deals ever reached between Nepal and China,” Oli said.

However the modality of investment —in grant or loan or assistance– for building the project is yet to be finalized, he added.

“Whoever has money will invest in the railway construction project,” he added.