Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha said he is exploring ways to revamp economic and development ties with India and China by setting up economic and development corridors with the two neighbours.

Earlier he had only talked about the idea with China, but now the deputy prime minister said he plans to push forward a similar approach with India.

During his China visit from March 24 to April 1 and his meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing, Shrestha had proposed the creation of an economic and development corridor linking Nepal, Tibet, Sichuan and Chongqing of China.

“Now we have received a proposal from China to add two more places—Xian in Shaanxi province and Guangdong province’s capital Guangzhou, where most of Nepali traders are based and export Chinese goods,” Shrestha said.

According to the DPM Shrestha, he has also expedited discussions to develop similar corridors with bordering Indian states like Uttrakhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

“The modality will be the same as with China, but aligning with our priorities and interests. We will use those corridors for different purposes,” he told the Post.

“The Chinese are interested in taking forward this concept and have expressed readiness to cooperate with us. Considering our longstanding relations with Tibet, Sichuan’s historical significance as the place of origin of the ancient Silk Road and Chongqing being the old capital city of China, connecting with these three places will enable us to attract more tourists, investment, foster trade relations, and explore new vistas for cooperation in information technology and agriculture,” Shrestha said.

And as per China's peripheral diplomacy, officials said, Tibet is the key province directly overseeing various relations with Nepal as it shares a border with Nepal. Likewise, Sichuan and Chongqing city have intensified their engagements and relations with Nepal.

Whenever Nepali leaders and officials travel to China, visiting these three provinces and cities is always the priority.

The corridors aim to enhance engagement with the provinces, which will be instrumental in attracting Chinese investments in various sectors, boosting trade, bringing in more Chinese tourists from these provinces, seeking more investment in areas like information technology, agriculture, mining and several other industries, the deputy prime minister said.

“By creating dedicated corridors, we will boost our relations with Chinese provinces that are adjacent to us, are familiar with us, and have been trading with us for a long time. Once we set up such corridors and connections, we will have more focused cooperation and partnership between Nepal and the Chinese provinces and cities. Other issues and mutually beneficial proposals will be discussed in the future,” said Shrestha.

Upon his return from China on April 1 after a nine-day visit, Shrestha told reporters at the Tribhuvan International Airport that he had proposed setting up Nepal-China economic and development corridors with Chinese officials.

The objective, he said, is to boost economic growth, trade, tourism, and connectivity between Nepal and three Chinese provinces that oversee and engage in various bilateral activities.

Of late, Nepal has seen a series of back-to-back high-level visits from these provinces, and when Nepali leaders visit China, their first destinations are Tibet, Sichuan, and Chongqing.

“The focus of my visit was economic diplomacy. Nepal has been thinking about this new concept [the idea of corridors] after China introduced the Trans Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network (THMDCN), which comprises economic and connectivity corridors to be developed under the Belt and Road Initiative,” Shrestha told reporters on April 1.

The THMDCN is more focused on connectivity related projects like rail, road, tunnels, air connectivity and expansion of the cross-border projects and the idea of setting up the corridors between Nepal and Chinese cities is to boost investment, trade, tourism, technology transfer and cooperation in agriculture and other sectors, a foreign ministry official said.

“The corridor starting from the Nepal-Tibet border will reach Chongqing through Sichuan province,” said the official.

The deputy prime minister said that as per his discussion in Beijing, China has waived visa fees for Nepali nationals. Soon, more border points with China will come into operation as agreed during the visit.

Shrestha also said that the border points would reopen in a manner similar to the pre-Covid arrangements.

“The issue of Chinese containers delivering cargo inside the Nepali border in Tatopani has also been resolved. Now our [Nepali] containers can go to the Nepal-China border, load goods onto the containers and return,” Shrestha told the Post.

Earlier, the Chinese did not allow Nepali containers and vehicles to enter China to transport Nepal-bound cargo brought by the Chinese containers and vehicles.

Likewise, according to Shrestha, he is considering discussing the idea of advancing a similar concept with India. “But as Indian leaders and officials are busy in their elections, I have not had a chance to propose the idea. I will do so as soon as the Indian elections are over.”

Shrestha pointed to the civilizational, historical, religious, cultural and trade relations with India, with most of the engagements taking place with adjoining states like West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

“We should boost the age-old ties by building corridors with the Indian states that share borders with us,” said Shrestha. “The scope of cooperation between Nepal and India is much higher than with China due to similarities between the people of the two countries, something which I also communicated to some young Indian foreign service officials recently.”

Four young officials of the Indian Foreign Service who were in Kathmandu recently had held interactions with different personalities to understand the status of the Nepal-India ties, the evolution of Nepali foreign service, and other major policy-related issues. During an orientation visit as part of their ongoing training, they met Deputy Prime Minister Shrestha on April 30 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“During my interaction with them, I conveyed our intent to build dedicated corridors between Nepal and northern Indian states that have close engagements with Nepal because the two sides have not been able to take advantage of these deep engagements. I told the visiting Indian officials that we want to take forward our multifaceted relations with India on the basis of sovereign equality, and mutual benefit and will not refrain from addressing the genuine concerns of India,” said Shrestha.