During an official visit to China, Nepali Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang signed an agreement to build a railway line which will connect Tibetan city of Xigaze with Nepal capital, Kathmandu.
The rail line will link Kathmandu with the Keyrong, situated in Tibet. The feasibility study will soon be conducted and it is estimated that the new railway link will be completed within four years. With its implementation, feasibility study on development of railway connecting Keyrong to Kathmandu via Rasuwagadhi with Chinese grants would be conducted soon. It also prepares base for construction of Kathmandu-Pokhara-Lumbini railway, Nepali Prime Minister said. “It is a historic agreement in the history of two-country relation,” he mentioned.
Nepali Prime Minister said that he hopes that cross-border railway projects will give an impetus to cross-border connectivity between Nepal and China.
According to Chinese Foreign Ministry, both sides are interested to strengthen their transport connectivity, and the railway agreement is “the most significant initiative in the history of bilateral cooperation and it would herald a new era of cross-border connectivity between the two countries.”
Both sides agreed to make good use of the long-term communication mechanism on railway cooperation between government departments and promote railway cooperation. The Chinese side agreed to provide such support as in technology and personnel training.
The two prime ministers agreed to negotiate the financing modalities of the projects on road and railway connectivity, hydropower and transmission lines, among others, proposed by Nepal.
Following the bilateral talks, Prime Minister Oli and Premier Li witnessed the signing of a total of 14 bilateral agreements.
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