NEPAL CAN BE INDIACHINA BRIDGE: OLI

BEIJING: Nepal can be a bridge between India and China as it wants to leverage its friendship with both the countries to boost its own development, Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said.

Oli, currently on a visit to Beijing, said in an interview with state-run Global Times tabloid that Nepal has “broad, comprehensive and multi-faceted” relations with India and China.

“We believe that Nepal can serve as a bridge between our two neighbors. In fact, we want to move from the state of a landlocked to a land-linked country through the development of adequate cross-border connectivity. Our friendship with both neighbours places us in an advantageous position to realise this goal,” he said.

Since the Left Alliance led by him had formed government in February, Nepal had intensified engagements with both its neighbors, Oli said. “In this short span of time, there have been exchanges of prime ministerial visits between Nepal and India and I now visit China,” he added.

Both India and China “receive top priority” in Nepal’s foreign policy, he said.

Nepal and China have signed several agreements on infrastructure development and connectivity during Oli’s visit, including one on a feasibility study for a railway link between the Tibetan city of Xigaze and Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.

The two sides signed more than 10 agreements covering technology, transportation and political cooperation.