Kathmandu, 4 December: The Framework of Belt and Road Cooperation has been signed between the governments of Nepal and China. The BRI Cooperation Framework was signed after two days of informal talks between high-ranking officials of Nepal and China in Beijing.
Amidst the talk that the BRI would not be signed during Prime Minister Oli’s visit, the foreign secretaries of both countries signed the framework this morning. With this, Nepal has now confirmed that it will officially move forward with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) initiated by China and signed in 2017.
In the draft of the framework prepared earlier, the word “aid financing” has been changed to “grant financing”. Grant means subsidy, while “aid” means assistance. It can be a grant or a loan.
Due to the Nepali Congress’s stance against taking loans under the BRI, the government had prepared a list of frameworks and projects and sent it to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, the agreement was not reached after China removed the word grant financing from the draft framework proposed by Nepal and replaced it with financing.
After China disagreed with Nepal’s proposal not to borrow under the BRI, an agreement was reached to find a middle ground in discussions between Nepal and Chinese officials.
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