By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Oct. 17: Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Baskota said on Thursday that a dream seen by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to transform Nepal as a land-linked nation from a landlocked one would be materialised in the support and cooperation from President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic China.
President Xi, during his state visit to Nepal last week, had expressed his commitment to connecting Nepal’s Himalaya region from the north by developing physical infrastructure, that is through a railway project between Nepal and China.
“During the visit of the Chinese President, the government of Nepal and the PM himself got strong support and assurance to complete the trans-Himalaya connectivity project,” Minister Baskota said while speaking at a weekly meeting organised at the Ministry to make the cabinet decisions public.
The state visit made by President Xi to Nepal could not be measured only on its value and essence. The visit remained highly and historically successful, Minister Baskota said.
With the support and cooperation from China, Nepal is more likely to be established as a movable state. All 20-point MoU signed during the visit were in favour of the people, he said.
During the visit, Nepal had signed for establishing strategic partnership with China for the sake of development and prosperity, Minister Baskota said.
“Developing strategic partnership with China doesn’t mean developing or forging military alliance with China, and we can never think in that line,” Minister Baskota clarified. “Nepal is a signatory member nation of Non-alignment Movement (NAM).”
About possibility of high level visit from other power nations like America and Russia, Minister Baskota told journalists that the government of Nepal would be more than happy to make this really happen in the future.
“We have made an effort to make such high level visit from other power nations in the future,” Minister Baskota said.
As the government was going to hold the Sagarmatha Sambad (dialogue) soon, and for this, the government would send formal invitations to all our neigbhouring and friendly countries seeking their high level presence in the dialogue, he said.
The issue of bringing in high level delegates from power nations might be a matter of happiness and pride to the government, but the government would not fix and confirm the date immediately, Minister Baskota said.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Thursday took various 11 decisions.
The Cabinet meeting decided to form a 15-member dialogue team led by joint secretary Nava Raj Dhakal at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies for the 4th meeting of Nepal-Bangladesh Commerce Joint-Secretary Level Technical Committee.
The meeting is going to be held in Kathmandu on October 22-23.
The Cabinet meeting decided to provide Rs. 1 million to Jaya Lal Sharma Arjel, father of deceased Adhiraj Kumar Sharma of Nepalgunj Municipality-2 in Banke district, and Rs. 300,000 to family members of Sanumaya Lama of Panchkhal Municipality-4 of Kavrepalanchowk district financial support.
Sharma was killed during the armed insurgency and Lama during the second People’s Movement, Minister Baskota said.
The government extended the term of the recommendation committee formed under the coordination of Home Secretary Prem Kumar Rai for recommending chief executive officer for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA).
Likewise, the Cabinet decided to extend the term of the probe committee of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) formed to investigate into the encroachment of government, public, guthi and the land pooled by the government. The term was extended till December 14, 2019.
The government gave authority to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for inking a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for establishing bilateral consultation mechanism between Nepal and France.
The Cabinet meeting authorised Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Ishwor Pokharel to ink an agreement for receiving China’s Provision of Military Assistance Gratis to Nepal.
The Cabinet meeting gave a nod for tabling a bill related to amendment and integration of formation and operation of Nepal Special Service, also known as National Investigation Department.
The government gave authority to Nepal Telecommunication Authority for providing cash Rs. 4 million per ana for the land owned by Radio Nepal in Khumaltar.