Nepal seeks preferential treatment to Nepali products in China

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Apr. 8: To reduce the trade deficit with China, Nepal has sought a preferential treatment to Nepali primary products such as tea, coffee, herbal products, cooked buffalo meat, and other agricultural products. 

Secretary of Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bharat Raj Paudyal has proposed for the preferential treatment to agricultural products from Nepal in China, Embassy of Nepal in Beijing informed in a statement on Friday.

Although China has provided duty-free access of more than 8,000 Nepali products, some of the key agricultural products and herbs are not included in the list. 

Foreign Secretary Paudyal is in Beijing leading a Nepali delegation to participate in the 15th meeting of 

the Bilateral Diplomatic Consultation Mechanism between the foreign ministries of the two countries which was held on Friday afternoon. Chinese delegation was led by Vice Minister, Sun Weidong. 

The Chinese side agreed to encourage Chinese investors to make investment in mutually beneficial areas in Nepal.

Paudyal appreciated the Chinese government for enlisting Nepal as one of the outbound destination countries for group tourism. “The two sides discussed promoting people to people contacts and cultural cooperation, increasing the number of scholarships to Nepali students and professionals, capacity development of technical experts, among others,” read the statement. 

The meeting also reviewed the progress of different infrastructure development projects under China’s grant assistance as well as Chinese-contracted projects in Nepal and agreed to expedite the implementation of the projects so as to complete them in time. 

According to the Nepali embassy in Beijing, both sides took stock of the existing Nepal-China bilateral relations and cooperation and deliberated on the ways to further expanding and consolidating cooperation in various areas, including the exchange of bilateral visits; economic cooperation; promotion of trade, investment and tourism; building connectivity; and strengthening cooperation in the fields of agriculture, education, culture and people-to-people relations, among others. 

On the occasion, the two sides reviewed the cooperation between the two countries at the multilateral forums, including in the United Nations, and exchange of mutual support to each other’s candidatures. 

In the meeting, Foreign Secretary Paudyal was accompanied by Bishnu Pukar Shrestha, Ambassador of Nepal to China, Lok Bahadur Thapa, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal and other officials of the ministry and embassy in Beijing. Likewise, the Chinese delegation comprised senior officials of its Ministry of the Foreign Affairs.