Chinese Vice Minister meets President Paudel Foreign Minister Shrestha

Kathmandu, Jun 26 (PTI) China's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sun Weidong on Wednesday called on Nepal’s President Ramchandra Paudel and discussed bilateral relations, issues of mutual interests and concerns.
    During the meeting, President Paudel noted that Nepal and China had shared an important and long-running development partnership and that it had always contributed to Nepal’s development plans for over seven decades, the President’s Office said in a statement.
    Paudel also stated Nepal’s plans to graduate from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) in 2026 and expressed his belief that the northern neighbour would continue to aid Nepal even after graduation.
    He recalled how the two countries shared a cordial people-to-people relationship and that historical figures like Aranico had contributed to spreading the relationship and cultural exchange between the Asian neighbours.
    Araniko spread Nepalese art and architecture to China hundreds during the 13th century.
    Sun, who is here on a three-day official visit, also met Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha and discussed various aspects of bilateral relations and cooperation.
    Foreign Minister Shrestha said that China has been supporting Nepal in various fields for a long time.
    "There has been persistent support from China to Nepal in its various fields of development,” he said and urged the Chinese government to continue supporting Nepal in the future as well.
    Besides this, a discussion was also held regarding the operationalization of different checkpoints between Nepal and China.
    On Tuesday, Sun and Nepal’s Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal reviewed the whole gamut of bilateral relations and vowed to enhance their cooperation in mutually agreed areas based on the principles of Panchsheel, mutual trust and goodwill.
    During the 16th meeting of the Nepal-China Diplomatic Consultation Mechanism here, the two sides “expressed firm commitment to further promote cooperation in mutually agreed areas and committed to work in the realisation of economic opportunities for mutual benefits.”
    The Chinese Vice Minister called on Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” and discussed issues of mutual interests on Tuesday.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)