Fuel import to top Nepal Deputy PM Kamal Thapa's agenda in China

KATHMANDU: Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa will head to China on an official visit this week, during which he is set to discuss the import of fuel at a time when the landlocked country's key trade points with India has been blocked by Madhesi protesters for four months.

Thapa's week-long visit to China will begin on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Dipak Adhikary said, adding that a delegation will accompany him.

Thapa, also the Minister for Foreign Affairs, is scheduled to hold talks with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on December 25. However, his detailed programme in China has not been made public yet.

Thapa, though, is expected to hold talks on a wide range of issues including matters relating to the import of oil from China as trade via the border points with India has largely remained suspended due to blockading by Indian-origin Madhesis protesting over Nepal's new Constitution.

Nepal has alrealdy signed an MoU with Petro China to import all kinds of fuel, ending a Indian Oil Corporation's long-held monopoly on the the country's fuel market. Nepal has been buying over USD 1.3 billion of gasoline from Indian Oil annually.

The announcement of Thapa's proposed visit came on a day he returned from his five-day visit to the UK.

In the UK, Thapa held talks with British counterpart Phillip Hammond and Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Hugo Swire.

UK officials expressed their concerns on the humanitarian crisis facing Nepal due to the blockade near its India border.

On his return from the UK, Thapa told reporters that he is confident that the blockade will end soon.

"We have come very close to the resolution to the problem and the crisis will end through talks," he said.

Thapa visited India twice within a couple of months and held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Swaraj and other top officials and sought their help to ease the border blockade.