Later this month, in Kathmandu, Nepal and China will convene for the 16th round of negotiations under the Diplomatic Consultation Mechanism. Most likely, June 25 will be the date of the summit. Sun Weidong, China’s vice minister of foreign affairs, will travel to Kathmandu for the summit.The meeting, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha, will cover all routine matters involving China and Nepal. The meeting’s main focus will be on matters pertaining to carrying out previous agreements and accords that were struck during a number of high-level visits. It will investigate fresh opportunities for collaboration, added Shrestha.As the meeting of the diplomatic consultation mechanism is approaching fast, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already held a round of discussion with several line ministries and sought their agendas and inputs on what the Nepali side needs to discuss during the meeting.
Despite some progress made in reopening the traditional bilateral entry points between Nepal and China, delay by the Chinese contractors in expanding and maintaining several road projects, and their tardiness in handing over the detailed project report of the second phase of the Kathmandu Ring Road, have led to setbacks.Also on the agenda are China’s commitment to importing Nepali goods, amending the Trade and Payment Agreement signed in 1981, and joint inspection of Nepal-China border that has been stalled for over two decades, multiple Nepali officials involved in the preparatory meeting told the Post.
The mechanism, which serves as a high-level forum between Nepal and China, is expected to discuss a wide range of issues, including trade, transit, connectivity, investment, health, tourism, poverty alleviation, disaster management, education, culture, and people-to-people exchanges. The Nepali side, during Deputy Prime Minister Shrestha’s China visit in March-April, had already proposed elevating the bilateral mechanism from the current foreign secretary-level to that of foreign ministers.The upcoming meeting is likely to give positive inputs to the government for elevating the current foreign secretary-level mechanism to that of foreign ministers, Rupak Sapkota, foreign relations adviser to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, told the Post.
Officials from both sides are discussing the issues that have been on the table over nearly a decade of bilateral visits. These include the visits of former Prime Minister KP Oli to China in 2016, and later in 2018; the 2019 visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Nepal, and the visit of Prime Minister Dahal to China last year.In the meeting, the Nepali side will raise several issues, such as exporting citrus fruits to China as committed by the Chinese side, exporting Nepali haylage (grass silage) to China, and finalising the protocol for exporting buffalo meat to China.
The meeting will also discuss the export of Nepali tea, coffee, and other agriculture-related projects to China. A Nepali bureaucrat who has been consulted ahead of the upcoming talks with China, said the Chinese side has been demanding proper certification for vaccines given to buffaloes and confirmation that the buffalo meat is free from foot-and-mouth disease, among other requirements. These demands have caused a delay in exporting processed buffalo meat to China. The meeting will also discuss the amendment to the Trade and Payment Agreement, Nepal’s perennial trade deficit with China, and several other issues related to tourism, connectivity, expediting China-funded projects in Nepal, agriculture, people-to-people contact, and high-level visits from both sides.
While the Chinese side has yet to share its agenda, according to officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Chinese may push for early ratification of the Mutual Legal Assistance agreement signed during the state visit of Chinese President Xi in 2019. The agreement is pending in Parliament. Similarly, another agreement related to boundary management between Nepal and China agreed during the same visit, is also yet to be formalised. During the visit of Prime Minister Dahal to China in September last year, the two sides had agreed to carry out a joint inspection of the Nepal-China boundary. The Nepali side has completed its preparations and has been calling for joint inspection, but the Chinese side has been reluctant despite previous understandings, a senior official at the Department of Survey told the Post.The joint press statement issued during Dahal’s China visit last September stated that the two sides agreed to bring into force the Nepal-China agreement on the Boundary Management System as soon as possible.
Sapkota, the foreign relations advisor, said there has been good progress on bilateral fronts, with almost all traditional border points reopened. The meeting will discuss expediting various projects undertaken by Chinese contractors and firms, as well as implementing agreements and accords reached during the past visits, he said. “Despite some momentum, some Chinese-funded projects in Nepal are facing delays, so officials will try to remove the bottlenecks,” Sapkota said. “Also, progress is being made on projects like the Nepal-China friendship bridge connecting Humla with the Chinese country of Purang (Taklakot), and Hilsa-Simkot road, connecting Humla district headquarters with the China border. A Chinese technical team has arrived to prepare the technical report of these two projects. We have heard that China has started a tender process for the construction of the Nepal-China Friendship Bridge in Humla.”
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