China hands over Pokhara int'l airport to Nepal, inks nine-point agreement during Wang Yi's visit
Mar 26, 2022
Kathmandu [Nepal], March 26 : Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the second day of his Nepal visit handed over the Chinese-built Pokhara Regional International Airport to Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Yi handed over the airport to the Nepal government during the courtesy call held at Baluwatar, the official residence of Nepali PM on Saturday evening.
"State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PRC (People's of Republic China) Wang Yi paid a courtesy call on the Rt. Hon. PM @SherBDeuba [Nepalese PM Sher Bahadur Deuba] today. Rt. Hon. [Right Honourable] PM witnessed the virtual completion ceremony of the Pokhara Regional International Airport." tweeted Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ahead of the meeting with Prime Minister Deuba, a nine-point agreement was sealed between the two nations following a bilateral meeting between the Sino and Nepali counterparts.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between two sides for financial and technical assistance, a feasibility study of the transmission line projects, and a team of Chinese health workers providing services in Nepal.
Apart from these, issues related to vaccine transfer, maintenance and up-gradation of Araniko Highway and its handover have also been agreed upon. Talks at the delegation-level and Foreign Minister-level took place before the agreement was struck.
"At the cordial invitation of Dr Narayan Khadka, Foreign Minister of Nepal, the State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China-Wang Yi is on an official visit to Nepal from yesterday (March 25, 2022). Today, he had bilateral talks with his Nepali counterpart. During the meeting, the whole gamut of bilateral relations was discussed and a few agreements and MoU's were also signed," Sewa Lamsal, the Spokesperson at Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told ANI.
Nepali Foreign Minister Dr Khadka led a 25-member delegation and his Chinese counterpart led a 17-member delegation to the talks. Yi also will pay a courtesy call to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari on Sunday morning followed by a meeting with two former PMs, KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Yi who is on a mammoth tour of South Asia will return back to mainland China on Sunday evening.
