By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Oct. 4 : Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli Thursday said that he valued promotion of friendship, more than having a shopping list of material expectations delivered, during top level visits involving two sovereign countries.

In a frank conversation with lead editors of The Rising Nepal and Gorkhapatra dailies at his official residence in Baluwatar, Prime Minister Oli responded to queries about the impending Nepal visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Visits are not about a shopping list of items to be had for festivals like Dashain, he said.

“When I go to other countries or when heads of state or governments from other countries come to Nepal, people generally have their first expectation about the material outcomes from such visits,” he said, adding, “To us, material outcomes come after the nurturing of friendship, because nothing can be compared with the value of friendship.”

Therefore, PM Oli said his focus during the high level visit would be on building multi-dimensional relationship between countries, governments, leaders and peoples.

“Material benefits happen at the next level following the promotion of friendship,” PM Oli said. “In friendship, there is no need to make calculations about profit and loss.”

In a mutual friendship, both sides profit, PM Oli said, adding, they boost trade, investment and technology transfer.

“That is where the people should have their expectations,” he added. “Cooperation in these areas will naturally grow on its own following the bonds of friendship.”
Prime Minister Oli also said the visit of President Xi would be highly successful.

Responding to the comments on Xi Thought and whether Nepal would be tilted towards it after the accord between Nepal Communist Party and Communist Party of China recently, Prime Minister Oli said Nepal would follow thoughts of its own that were suitable to its situation and circumstances.

“I went to the 150th anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi yesterday and praised his thoughts. Now, where shall Nepal tilt?” he quipped.

Gandhi’s thoughts were relevant even today, he said, because weapons of mass destruction were being made in the world, which needed peace, and they posed risks of their own.”

“I also said two strong trends were seen in the struggle for freedom of India. One was the revolutionary trend of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and, the other is the peaceful trend of Mahatma Gandhi. Both are correct. Peace is an expectation, the revolutionary line of Bose is one way to achieve it. Gandhi’s thought is also right. Which one should we follow?“

“Our context is different from theirs. We will move forward as per the country’s need. It is narrow-minded to say that Nepal has tilted towards Xi Thought. This is an attempt to defame us.”
The comments were irrational and show intellectual intolerance, said PM Oli, adding that he felt sorry for them.

“We listen to the views of various intellectuals, read the findings of research done by scientists and study the developments made by various technologists,” he said. “We creatively apply the learning from all these efforts fit in with our country’s situation.”

Nepal is a sovereign and independent country, PM Oli said, adding its circumstances do not match with those of others.
“China has moved much ahead of us, the circumstances between us are different. India has also left us far behind and our circumstances are different from those of India. Similarly, circumstances in Japan and USA are different from those of ours.”

“Our circumstances match with only us. Our needs are our own. We need to move ahead as per our needs,” he said.
As Nepal had started practising its decisions as an independent nation, it was being seen and listened to in the international for a. “Nepal was sovereign. It was independent as a nation. But it had not dared or been able to exercise its independence independently before,” PM said.

“We have to be able to act as an independent and sovereign nation. In the past, we were restrained and shrunk in practising our independence. But now we have come out of such a situation. Nepal can now fully implement its domestic and international policies and present itself in the international fora. Nepal has now become visible and audible because it has been able to deal on its own.”
Prime Minister Oli said Nepal would not tilt towards any place, nor take any side. “Nepal will stand straight on its independent policy, without faltering on long-term national interest. It won’t go after short-term benefits by giving up its policy.

“We have our policies of national interest, national character, national independence, neutrality, peace, world brotherhood and just world system, ” he said. “We have commitments to UN Charter, non-alignment.”
Prime Minister Oli said in the conduct of foreign policy, Nepal would pay attention to three things: our national interest, just system and international obligations.

“Nepal has gone from defining itself from being landlocked to landlinked,” he said, adding, “We are getting water-linked, we have had air links.”
Prime Minister Oli said that the government had taken the relationship with its neighbours to a new height and made it cordial, consolidated and trustworthy. “Similarly, the government has uplifted its international relations.”