Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba is set to visit Beijing ahead of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s planned trip to China, where she will finalise the agenda and itinerary of the visit.

Prime Minister Oli is scheduled to make a five-day official visit to China from December 2 to 6 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Li Qiang, although an official announcement is awaited.

To lay the ground for the visit, Foreign Minister Deuba is expected to travel to China, most probably on November 29, a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Post.

During her visit, she will meet her counterpart, Wang Yi, and other senior officials and leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, although the details of these meetings have yet to be worked out, said officials. Later, she will join the prime minister’s delegation in Beijing.

The Chinese side has already extended an invitation to Foreign Minister Deuba to visit China ahead of Prime Minister Oli’s trip. On Monday, Chinese Ambassador Chen Song met Foreign Minister Deuba and extended this invitation, confirming her role in making preparations for the prime minister’s visit.

After the meeting between Foreign Minister Deuba and Chinese Ambassador Chen, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on social media platform X that they discussed “matters relating to further strengthening the bilateral relations and cooperation between Nepal and China.”

Rana received a standing invitation from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also the state councilor of China, during a meeting in New York in September—on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

A two-party political mechanism of Nepali Congress and CPN-UML has already entrusted Foreign Minister Deuba with the responsibility of preparing the groundwork for the prime minister’s visit.

“As per the instructions of Prime Minister Oli and Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba, Foreign Minister Arzu Rana will coordinate the visit,” said a statement issued by the joint mechanism of the Nepali Congress and UML, adding, “The mechanism will lay the groundwork for the visit.”

After being entrusted to lay the ground for the visit, Deuba held several rounds of meetings with stakeholders last and this week.

On Tuesday, she called a meeting of line ministries and discussed various aspects of Nepal-China relations, status of the Chinese-funded projects in Nepal, potential areas of cooperation, and additional opportunities to pursue during the prime minister’s visit, according to a joint secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has planned meetings with more stakeholders, the joint secretary said.

During the meeting, officials from over two dozen ministries, departments and offices gave updates on the status of Chinese-funded projects. After the briefings, Minister Deuba instructed them to prepare a list of feasible projects to pursue during the visit, according to one participant.

Foreign Minister Deuba also briefed the office bearers of her party, the Nepali Congress, on the prime minister’s upcoming visit.

Prime Minister Oli’s party, the CPN-UML, has already stated that his visit will focus mainly on implementing past agreements and accords. Besides seeking economic and technical support and cooperation, Oli is reportedly planning to request the Chinese government to convert the loan taken for the Pokhara International Airport into a grant.

Since 2008, China has pledged around Rs80 billion in grants to Nepal, including one worth three billion yuan (around Rs60 billion) announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his 2019 visit. The Chinese president pledged the grant during delegation level talks with the then president, Bidya Devi Bhandari, in Kathmandu.

Out of these grants, China has allocated some funds to various other projects on different occasions, and Nepali officials are seeking to waive the loan on Pokhara International Airport, a UML leader told the Post requesting anonymity.

Potential agenda items for the prime minister’s visit include signing the Belt and Road Initiative implementation plan and executing some new projects under the BRI framework including at least one mega infrastructure project immediately.

In 2015, Nepal borrowed 1,378.74 million yuan (around Rs25.88 billion) from the China Exim Bank for the construction of the Pokhara airport. The government had previously requested the Chinese side to waive off the loan, as the new airport is struggling to generate revenue without international flights.

An official request for loan waiver was made during a meeting between Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel and Yang Weiqun, vice chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), on August 23 in Kathmandu, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Although the airport came into operation after its inauguration in

January 2023, it has failed to generate enough income to sustain itself and

service the loan.

Officials indicated that the prime minister is planning to reach a definitive agreement on the BRI implementation plan, which remains pending since early 2020. Representatives from Nepal and China had held several rounds of discussions for signing the implantation plan, but it failed to materialise due to differences among the Nepali political parties.

The National Planning Commission is working on the BRI implementation plan document and has been exchanging drafts with Chinese authorities. The Congress has expressed reservations over the plan, arguing that Nepal cannot afford costly loans and prefers grants or concessional loans similar to those offered by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other bilateral and multilateral lenders.

“During Oli’s visit, the Nepali side might seek China’s support for

one [yet to be selected] big project under the BRI framework. Some of the

proposals and projects are of sensitive nature and require political agreement between the two ruling parties,” a foreign ministry official said, adding that the itinerary and agenda of the visit are still in the works.