Kathmandu, May 12
Nepal is now officially part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s flagship One Belt One Road (OBOR) to link different parts of the Asia and beyond.
Nepal’s Foreign Ministry Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi signed OBOR’s concept paper on behalf of the Nepali government in the presence of Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat, in Kathmandu.
Chinese Ambassador Yu Hong signed the document on Beijing’s behalf.
“The major thrust of the MoU is to promote mutually beneficial cooperation between Nepal and China in various fields such as economy, environment, technology and culture,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed after the signing, “The MoU aims at promoting cooperation on promoting connectivity of facilities, trade connectivity, financial integration and connectivity of people.”
The Cabinet on Monday had given its nod to the Foreign Ministry to sign the document. Prime Minister Prachanda, during his recent visit to China, had pledged to endorse Xi’s OBOR plan.
Xi presented the OBOR concept before the world in 2o13. According to analysts, China had put lot of diplomatic effort in convincing Nepal to sign up for the project.
Nepal had already signed an initial agreement on OBOR in 2014. But the southern neighbour India has refrained from participating in the project. It was believed that Nepal was under pressure from India to not sign the pact with China.
Under the OBOR initiative, Nepal hopes to receive Chinese support to build a railway network and construct economic corridors, officials say.
