Nepal joins China's ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, possibly alarming India
Although Nepal had made verbal commitments in the past to support China’s Silk Road initiative, Friday’s signing officially translates that commitment to a binding agreement
Nepal on Friday signed an agreement to be part of President Xi Jinping’s ambitious plan to build a new Silk Road linking Asia, Africa and Europe, a move that could alarm India, which jostles with China for influence in Kathmandu.
At a special function held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kathmandu, Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi, the ministry’s top bureaucrat, and Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong inked the deal, the ministry said.
“This is Nepal joins China's ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, possibly alarming India,” said Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat, who witnessed the signing to bring the Himalayan nation into Beijing’s initiative to expand its economic and geopolitical heft across several continents.
Ministry spokesman Bharat Raj Paudyal said the main objective of the agreement is “to promote mutually beneficial cooperation between Nepal and China in various fields such as the economy, environment, technology and culture.”