KATHMANDU: Nepal will soon sign a "deal" with China to be a part of the Belt and Road Initiative, Prime Minister Prachanda said today as he returned from Beijing after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Prachanda told reporters that Nepal would become the part of the Belt and Road Initiative as early as possible and reap benefits from the initiative.
"We are going to sign the deal with China as early as possible to ensure our participation in the Belt and Road Initiative," China's official Xinhua news agency quoted Prachanda as saying.
"I expressed commitment on behalf of the government of Nepal that we would like to become the part of the Belt and Road Initiative during my meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing recently," the report quoted him as saying.
He said that Nepal is keen to develop cross-border railway networks, roads, transmission lines, industrial parks as well as other infrastructures under the Belt and Road Initiative.
The Belt and Road Initiative is a pet project of President Xi. It was proposed by him in 2013 and the project aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes.
It includes the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to connect China with ports across the world as well as the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - which passes through the PoK - and the Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar Economic (BCIM) corridor.
India has protested to China over the CPEC - which connects western China's restive Xinjiang region with Pakistan's southern port of Gwadar through the PoK - and has reservations over the Maritime Silk Road as it impacts the Indian Ocean which is important to India's security interests.
Prachanda expressed confidence that Nepalese people will benefit from Nepal's participation in the Belt and Road Initiative.
"We agreed to cooperate more in jointly building the belt and road," he added.
Nepal initially signed a framework MoU with China in December 2014 though the Himalayan nation has yet to finalise cooperation projects to be developed under the initiative.
Prachanda said his visit to China was productive.
Interestingly, ahead of Prachanda's visit state-run Chinese media had vented its ire against him saying Beijing- Nepal ties have fallen to a "low ebb" with most of the Chinese projects stuck due to his "pro-India" policies.