United Nations, Sep 27 (IANS) Nepal wants to turn its position between India and China into an economic advantage, Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said, describing stronger trade with India and better links to China as parts of the same strategy.
Speaking at New York event, Khanal said Nepal’s question in what he called a rising Asian century was no longer how it could survive between two large neighbours. It was how the country could create value between them and beyond them.
“We did not see our northern and southern corridors as competing directions,” he said. “We see Nepal land linked to two of the world’s largest markets, home to nearly three billion people.”
India remains central to that plan. Khanal said Nepal shares an open border of more than 1,700 kilometres with five Indian states and sees scope for closer links between Nepali production and the Indian market. He also pointed to hydropower as a source of growth, with Nepal aiming to expand generation and export clean electricity to India and, onward, to Bangladesh.
In a discussion after his address, Khanal described the new Nepali government’s relationship with India as “Excellent, I’d say.” He said he had met India’s external affairs minister in New York and that high-level visits and exchanges had taken place.
The ties extend well beyond government contacts. “Almost two third of our trade is with India,” Khanal said. Nepal also relies heavily on routes through India for access to ports, while the two countries have close cultural and social links, he said.
Asked about border disagreements and the wider task of managing relations with New Delhi and Beijing, Khanal said his government was concentrating on practical cooperation. There would be issues on which the neighbours differed, he said, but Nepal was looking for areas where they could make progress. He cited positive momentum in energy trade with India.
On China, Khanal said Nepal was pursuing better road links across the Himalayas and envisaged rail connections over time. He described China as Nepal’s second-largest trading partner after India and said Chinese investors were among the largest investors in the country.
Nepal signed a memorandum on China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2017 and a framework agreement in December 2024, Khanal said. He added that the two countries had yet to begin implementing projects under it. Nepal was also seeking cooperation with China on glacial monitoring, disaster warnings and climate adaptation.
Khanal framed these efforts as part of a policy he called “development autonomy”. Nepal’s goal, he said, was to reach middle-income status within 10 years and developed, high-income status by 2050. Foreign partnerships should help build productive capacity and jobs at home.
The United States also has a place in that approach. Khanal said Nepal wanted more US investment and described current exchanges between officials as robust. He said his government was not strongly pursuing security alliances or security cooperation, given Nepal’s geography and sensitivities, though the two countries had cooperated on security matters in the past.
Khanal also linked the country’s economic plans to governance. He said young Nepalis had demanded action on corruption and poor public services, and that the government was seeking investment while improving how the state works.
–IANS
lkj/rs
