KATHMANDU, Dec 4: Nepal and China have signed the much-anticipated Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Cooperation Framework in Beijing, China on Wednesday.
The two countries signed the agreement, which, government officials said, would pave the way for the implementation of BRI projects, during the visit of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to China, confirmed CPN-UML leader Dr Rajan Bhattarai, who also heads the UML’s Foreign Affairs Department. Dr Bhattarai is a member of PM Oli’s delegation to China.
China willing to strengthen cooperation with Nepal under BRI fr...
Earlier on Tuesday, the two countries had failed to sign the deal due to Nepal’s stance against loan agreement to implement BRI projects in Nepal. However, the two sides reached an agreement on Wednesday following an intense negotiation to find a middle path. While the Nepali side proposed keeping the words ‘grant financing’ in the cooperation framework agreement, the Chinese side proposed keeping the word ‘aid’.
The details of the cooperation framework agreements are yet to be released to the public. The two countries have agreed to negotiate further on the BRI implementation framework to expedite implementation of some of the BRI projects in Nepal.
