B&R Initiative critical to socio-economic transformation of smaller countries: Nepali party leader

The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative is critical to socio-economic transformation of smaller countries like Nepal, a senior leader of Nepal's ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) said on Monday.

Narayan Kaji Shrestha, who is also spokesperson for the NCP, made the remarks during a function organized to celebrate the 69th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, which falls on Oct. 1.

"The Belt and Road Initiative is a new opportunity in the contemporary world. This China-proposed initiative is critical to socio-economic transformation of the smaller countries like Nepal," Shrestha said, adding that China's economic, political and cultural transformation taken place in the past several decades are exemplary to the rest of the world.

Nepal and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on bilateral cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative in May 2017.

The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, aims at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes.

Expressing gratitude to China for its incessant support to Nepal's socio-economic development, Shrestha highlighted that age-old bilateral friendly ties between China and Nepal have been moving steadily on the basis of five principles of peaceful co-existence.

On the occasion, Hiranya Lal Shrestha, an expert on Nepal-China relations, said that landlocked countries like Nepal have ample of opportunities to reap benefit by the enhanced railway connectivity networks to be developed under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The event, organized by Kathmandu-based Let Review Online, witnessed the participation of political party leaders, intellectuals, media persons and thinkers.