Nepal's ruling NCP hopes PM Oli's China visit will deepen ties: report

Nepal's ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has expressed hope that the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli to China beginning June 19 will be significant for deepening the bilateral relation between the two neighbours, China's Xinhua reported on Sunday, June 17.

Xinhua cited NCP spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha as saying that a standing committee meeting of the party held in Kathmandu on Saturday, June 16, discussed Oli's five-day visit to Beijing.

"We hope that the visit will be significant to deepen bilateral cooperation between Nepal and China," Xinhua quoted him as saying.

Oli, who is known to harbour pro-China sentiments, also termed his visit to China as historic as far as deepening the cooperation between the two nations that have shown enough signs of coming closer in the recent times, much to the dismay of Nepal's age-old friend India.

The standing committee met for the first time since the NCP was launched on May 17 following the merger of the two communist parties - CPN(UML) and CPN(Maoist Centre). The communists came to power in Nepal after an overwhelming victory in the elections held last year end.

Nepal's Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali briefed about the preparations underway for Oli's visit to China, the Xinhua report added.

The visit by Oli and his delegates is taking place at the invitation of Chinese Premier Le Keqiang and it will be the first trip to China by the Nepali PM in his second and current term which started in February this year.

Oli had visited China during his first tenure as the PM in March 2016.