China to enlist Nepal in top tourist destination

By Nanda Lal Tiwari, Kathmandu, Jan 29: Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song has said that China is willing to enlist Nepal in the top tourist destination so that the Chinese tourists visit Nepal as in the past, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world.

"Nepal is the favourite destination for the Chinese tourists, especially high-end tourists. We expect many Chinese tourists will be visiting Nepal soon. There needs to be done some paper work between the two governments (with regard to enlisting Nepal in countries for group travel)," said Ambassador Chen when asked about Nepal not being included in the list of countries for Chinese group travel.

China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism has recently issued a list of countries for outbound group travel for Chinese starting from February 6.

Talking to The Rising Nepal after his meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, at the latter's office in Singh Durbar, the Chinese Ambassador also assured of speeding up construction of different projects funded by China or being constructed by Chinese companies in Nepal.

"We are for speeding up our work in infrastructure projects in Nepal. China is ready to support Nepal on infrastructure building, improvements," said the Ambassador.

The audio of the interview:

When asked if the feasibility study of the Kerung-Kathmandu railways also featured in their discussion, Ambassador Chen said, "We discussed every current projects and potentially future projects. As for the improvement of infrastructure of Nepal, we discussed all the projects generally. We intend to speed up our cooperation in this regard and contribute to Nepal's social and economic development."

Ambassador Chen said that China is always ready to provide all the assistance and expertise for Nepal's development, including in infrastructure.

"We are ready to work with the government of Nepal and Nepali business circle for the improvement of infrastructure value," said the new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to Nepal who arrived in Nepal in the first week of this month to assume his office.