A dialogue programme entitled "Nepal-China Contemporary Dialogue" was organised jointly by the Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA) and China Study Centre-Nepal at The Hotel Malla, Lainchaur on July 6, 2007.
Hon'ble Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Sahana Pradhanwas the Chief Guest at the dialogue programme, while Chinese Ambassador to Nepal, Mr. Zheng Xianglin, Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Mr. Gyan Chandra Acharya and visiting Vice-President of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), Mr. Li Shaoxian were the Guest of Honour.
Addressing the dialogue programme, Minister Madame Pradhan commended the People's Republic of China for the continued Chinese support to Nepal's different priority sectors like economic, social, cultural and technical along with the development of physical infrastructure. She expressed her hope that the railway service, which has connected Lhasa with the mainland China, would be helpful in enhancing economic and socio-cultural ties between Nepal and China.
She was of the opinion that economic and cultural ties had been the basic bonds of bilateral relations between the two neighbours since time immemorial.
She said that Nepal would be able to share the benefit of the rapid economic, social and technological progress made by China. She also hoped that the train service would be extended to Kathmandu in future.
She said that China was a dynamic world power, who had good economic influence worldwide. She, however, conceded the fact that Nepal being an immediate neighbour of China had not been able to reap the benefit to a desired extent.
Recalling the past, she said that China, who had become a republican state in 1949, had come a long way in economic, political and cultural spheres.
She said that Nepal, who also became a democratic country in 1951, had to learn much from China in regards to socio-economic development.
Prior to her address, she launched a news bulletin published by IFA.
Speaking at the dialogue programme, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal, Mr. Zhan Xianlin appreciated the roles played and efforts made by both Nepal and China to further strengthen the existing bilateral relationship.
He said the two sides would explore additional possible avenues of cooperation in the near future, too.
He said that he was very happy to see Nepal's political process going towards positive direction. He also appreciated the announcement of the date for the election to the Constituent Assembly.
Further highlighting the ongoing peace process in Nepal, the Chinese envoy said that Nepal entered into an era of political stability that would help establish lasting peace in the country.
Shedding light on the bilateral ties between the two countries, he said that China would make every possible effort to take the age-old China-Nepal ties to a new height.
Citing the longstanding friendship between the two countries, he said that the people-to-people contact had helped in expanding the relations in the field of culture, tourism and education.
He suggested that the Governments of China and Nepal and other concerned parties should come up with strategic plan, offer genuine encouragement and develop and promote mutually beneficial activities in order to achieve the desired goals.
He said that the personal exchanges between the two countries needed to be increased.
Stating that some Chinese cities were connected to Nepal by air, he said that there was only one land connection via Khasa. He said that China had enlisted Sybhrunbensi-Rasuwagadhi road as well as Khasa-Kathmandu Optical Fiber Project as our assistance to Nepal.
He also disclosed the fact that the construction of the road would be started within this year (2007), which would enable a convenient connectivity between the two countries. The ambassador also said that in order to enhance the exchanges in trade, culture and personal areas, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of China would organize a trade fare in Kathmandu in the coming autumn. Emphasizing the importance of the fare, Mr. Xianlin said that the fare would be attended by hundreds of Chinese from the cultural area and economic circles which would further upscale the cooperation between the two countries.
He further said that China and Nepal had been good friends and partners since immemorial past.
He emphasised the need for enhancing understanding, friendship and mutual cooperation from both the sides and continuing high level dialogue in political, cultural and economic areas. Before concluding his remarks, the ambassador said he was confident that interactions of such nature would lead China-Nepal relationship to a newer height.
Delivering his address, Mr. Gyan Chandra Acharya, Secretary at MoFA, said that Nepal attached great importance to her relationship with China and the two neighbours had excellent relationship.
Mr. Acharya said that the Nepal-China bilateral ties remained free from problems.
"China and Nepal have very wide range of relationship. It is not concentrated only on political level," he said.
Lauding China for her immense progress in the area of economic development, he said the northern neighbour was a strong global force of political stability and economic prosperity.
"We are also looking at China with a lot of expectations. Many countries in the region as well as beyond the region are looking forward to a most fruitful interaction with China so that the benefits they achieve through the relationship would grow along with the overall growth of China," he said.
He assured the visiting Chinese delegation that Nepal would do her best to enhance the people-to-people, institution-to-institution and academician-to-academician relationship that would keep firm basis of strengthening the bilateral ties.
He said that Nepal was looking at diversifying her relationship with China at economic, cultural and social levels.
"When we talk about the benefit that we get from the overall growth of China, we look at new areas of cooperation such as transit," he said.
He also hoped that the visit of that nature would help strengthen bilateral relationship and widen cooperation with China.
Initiating the dialogue earlier, Vice-President of CICIR and leader of the visiting high-level Chinese delegation, Mr. Li Shaoxian said that Nepal was one of the important neighbours of China. "The two countries have enjoyed a long history of mutual ties on culture, religion and ethnicity," he said.
He said that Nepal had always occupied a very high position in China's foreign policy.
Focussing on China-Nepal ties, he said his country believed that the bilateral ties were very important for mutual benefit sharing.
Making his observation on Nepal's current peace process, he said that the country was moving forward in a right direction. "Thus, the political stability of Nepal and the peaceful political process is to the benefit of China. We sincerely hope that our neighbour Nepal will have political stability and economic prosperity in future," he added.
He said China always wanted peace and economic prosperity in Nepal for which China was wiling to explore every avenue.
Highlighting his institute, he said CICIR was one of the important think-tanks of China.
Recalling his fruitful meeting with Hon'ble Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and former Premier Mr. Sher Bahadur Deuba, he said he would meet other political figures as well.
He informed that CICIR and China Study Centre-Nepal (CSC-N) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), which was just a beginning. As per the MoU, there would be regular exchange of visits between the two countries.
"We would like to enhance our knowledge in Nepal in a comprehensive way by taking this opportunity and tranquility," he said.
He expressed his firm belief that his delegation's visit would play a conducive role in enhancing and promoting bilateral relations between the two neighbours.
Finally, he wished a great success of Nepal's ongoing political process and looked forward to further enhancing the bilateral relations in the days to come.
Welcoming the Chief Guest, Guests of Honour and other participants earlier, Prof. Dr. Gopal Pokharel, Executive Director of IFA and chairman of the programme, said that the Nepal-China ties were not confined to the government level alone but it was also being strengthened between party-to-party and gradually being expanded to people-to-people level.
Prof. Pokharel said that China was fast gearing towards becoming one of the world's largest economic giants in the 21st century.
He suggested that Nepal should chalk out comparative advantage strategy in order to reap economic benefits from either exporting Nepal's products to China or attracting Chinese investment and tourists to Nepal or both.
He said that Nepal and China could work together in the areas of tourism, trade, transport, cultural exchange and water resources and derive benefits immensely making the relationship more meaningful, result-oriented and mutually beneficial.
He said that Nepal's relationship with China was now becoming wider and comprehensive ever than before.
Praising China for her adhering to the principles of "Panchasheela", respecting fully the sovereignty, territorial and national independence and integrity while cooperating by all means of socio-economic transformation of the Nepalese society.
He said China had been extremely helpful and remained Nepal's most trusted friend in the latter's development endevours over the past 50 years.
Highlighting IFA as a semi-autonomous body designed to cater to professional training needs of the Nepalese foreign service officials and personnel, he said that the institute was conceived under the new setup as a 'think-tank' on foreign policy issues.
He said that preserving the documents of historic importance as well as dissemination of information on issues related to foreign policy was major responsibility of the institute.
At the end of the dialogue programme, Minister Madame Pradhan presented a souvenir as a token of affection, appreciation and honour to Mr. Li Shaoxian, Vice-President of CICIR. The souvenir was a miniature of the Swayambhunath Stupa.
Similarly, Acting Secretary at MoFA, Mr. Acharya presented Nepali caps to Chinese envoy Mr. Zhan Xianlin and Vice-President of CICIR and leader of the Chinese delegation Mr. Li Shaoxian. Prof. Pokharel, Executive Director of IFA, offered Nepali caps as a token of love to rest of the members of the visiting high-level Chinese delegation. Prof. Pokharel also presented the logo of IFA to Mr. Li.
Delivering a vote of thanks, Dr. Upendra Gautam, Secretary General of Nepal China Study Centre-Nepal, said that his organization was happy to collaborate with IFA.
Talking about the first delegation of CICIR, which was in Nepal at the invitation of
CSC-N, Dr. Gautam said that CICIR, which was established in 1980 under the State Council of the People's Republic of China, was an important think-tank of high international relevance.
He also narrated that the institutional arrangement of CICIR was very much close with the current function and structure of strategic security resources.
He informed that CICIR had come up with significant global review of strategic security resources in 2005-2006.
Emphasising the importance of the Chinese delegation to Nepal, he thanked the leadership of CICIR for planning this visit to Nepal on a priority basis. He was of the opinion that the delegation's direct dialogue and interactions at the leadership, policy and research level and observation of national socio-cultural and economic scenes in Nepal would contribute to uplift or upscale Nepal-China integration through cooperation in the strategic resources areas such as culture, transport, communication and energy and consolidate China's inter-generational policies of anti-foreign invasion and interference towards Nepal.
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