Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Monday said no agreement on loan would be reached during his upcoming official visit to China, beginning on December 2 at the invitation of Beijing.
During a meeting he held with the Himalayan country’s former prime ministers and foreign ministers at his office at Singh Durbar in Kathmandu, he claimed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) deal that Nepal signed with China was not a loan-based agreement and there was no need to discuss now whether or not to seek a loan from Beijing.
“We take loans or grants based on our national interests as and when we need them from any country or agency. We should not be swayed by the baseless rumor that a loan is being taken to entrap the country,” he clarified, according to the media reports on Tuesday.
“We have a long and friendly relationship with China. I am visiting the northern neighbor to make the friendship multi-dimensional.”
“Irrespective of the country we chose for our first visit, we keep sovereignty, independence, and freedom as well as national welfare along with global welfare in top priority,” PM Oli said, adding that his visit would be successful.
He also dismissed the rumor that major ruling partners CPN (UML) and Nepali Congress in his alliance government are at odds over the agenda of his visit.
Oli’s remarks came after speculations that Nepali Congress favors grants from China under the BRI whereas CPN UML’s priority is to seek loans under the arrangement.
“I urge all my friends to remain assured that we will work for Nepal’s interests and world peace,” the PM’s Secretariat cited Oli as saying.
Oli apprised the participants in the meeting that effective implementation of the past agreements with China, expansion of the transmission line, export of Nepali products to China, and other related issues of cooperation would mainly come up during his high-level meeting in Beijing.
He said Nepal had the same friendly relations with India, and underlined the need to take benefit of the cordial ties with both countries for Nepal’s economic development.
“No one should take such matters as a ‘card’ against any country as the official visit of the head of the government will be based on the needs and decisions of the country,” Oli clarified.
Sharing his views at the discussion, former PM and Chairperson of CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ said though he broke the tradition by visiting Beijing first in the past he had no intention of playing the “China card.”
Prachanda emphasized the effective implementation of the agreements signed with China last year when he was the PM.
Foreign Minister Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba said preparations were underway on the issue of the ‘agenda’ by the two ruling parties regarding PM Oli’s upcoming visit to China and all the agendas would be finalized soon. There was no dispute between the two parties regarding the visit as projected in the media.