By Anil Giri in The Kathmandu Post, May 17, 2023For six years of the signing of the Belt and Road Initiative with Nepal, China had nothing to show for a real project. That changed with the inauguration of Pokhara International Airport earlier this year when Beijing made a unilateral announcement to keep the airport built with Chinese aid under the BRI framework. Nepal and China signed a memorandum of understanding on One Belt One Road…
Posts tagged as “Nepal”
Report in The Kathmandu Post, May 16, 2023Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said on Monday that Nepal will pursue an independent foreign policy based on the principles of sovereign equality, non-interference, mutual respect and benefit. Briefing the Kathmandu-based diplomatic community for the first time after assuming the office on December 25, the prime minister stated that “friendship, mutual respect, and cooperation continue to guide Nepal’s external engagements.” “Protection and promotion of national interest is our…
Report in The Kathmandu Post, May 16, 2023Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said on Monday that Nepal will pursue an independent foreign policy based on the principles of sovereign equality, non-interference, mutual respect and benefit. Briefing the Kathmandu-based diplomatic community for the first time after assuming the office on December 25, the prime minister stated that “friendship, mutual respect, and cooperation continue to guide Nepal’s external engagements.” “Protection and promotion of national interest is our…
By Sangam Prasain in The Kathmandu Post, May 01, 2023Nepal plunged into its first recession in six decades as economic output continued to be weighed down by inflation and political instability. Economists warn that the country, which is aiming for middle-income status in the next three years, will have a hard time getting out of the slump as political uncertainty, corruption and market and climate vulnerability go deep. As per the National Statistics Office, the…
by Anil Giri in The Kathmandu Post, Apr 30, 2023On Friday, the private secretariat of Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat released a statement stating that China would provide Rs80 billion for the execution of various infrastructure-related projects in Nepal. The commitment was made during a meeting between Mahat and Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song at the finance ministry. Officials at the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, told the Post that…
by Tika R Pradhan in The Kathmandu Post, Apr 24, 2023Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who held over an hour-long meeting with CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli at Singha Durbar on Friday, said efforts were on to revive the Nepal Communist Party. Dahal, who was one of the two chairs of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) which was dissolved by a March 2021 Supreme Court decision, said although the NCP was “caught in an accident…
By Anil Giri in The Kathmandu Post, April 22, 2023Seven years after signing of the Trade and Transit Agreement with China that gives Nepal access to seven Chinese ports for third country trade, not a single shipment has moved. In the wake of a “punitive” Indian blockade after Nepal refused to delay the promulgation of constitution, then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in April, 2016, paid an official visit to China where two sides signed…
Report in The Kathmandu Post, April 21, 2023The government has decided to give three more years to the Nepal Army to complete the Rs175 billion Kathmandu-Tarai expressway, the fourth extension in six years after the project failed to meet the completion deadline. The Cabinet meeting on Tuesday took the decision to this effect. The new deadline is April 2027. On May 4, 2017, the government formally handed over the much-touted project to the army, putting…
By Prithvi Man Shrestha in The Kathmandu Post, April 20, 2023The Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal said that deals were initiated for selling 2,200 MW of electricity to India during the two-day power summit that concluded on Wednesday in Kathmandu. Although the private sector is yet to get trading licence to sell electricity in the domestic and foreign market because the current law does not allow it, India’s Manikaran Power Limited on Tuesday signed…
By Prithvi Man Shrestha in The Kathmandu Post, April 18, 2023Nepali and Indian officials as well as Nepal’s private sector had hailed the Nepal-India Joint Vision Statement on Power Sector Cooperation as a milestone in energy cooperation and in providing international market access to Nepal’s surplus power. The joint vision statement issued in April last year seeks to strengthen mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation in the power sector through joint development of power projects in Nepal.…
By Anil Giri in The Kathmandu Post, April 13, 2023Amid a financial crisis so serious that the government is struggling to pay its employees, the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government is pushing ahead with its decision to dole out Rs200,000 each to the former Maoist combatants disqualified for integration into the Nepal Army for being underage or late recruits during the UN verification in 2007. Home Secretary Binod Singh confirmed to the Post that a working…