The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework was signed between the governments of Nepal and China on Wednesday. Although the framework was not signed during the high-level meeting of the Nepal and China sides on Tuesday, it was signed on Wednesday in Beijing.
The nine-point agreement was signed following bilateral talks between Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday. There was no clause mentioning the BRI.
However, in the joint 12-point statement between Nepal and China, it was stated that an MoU would be signed as soon as possible to build the framework of Belt and Road cooperation.
The officials had said they had nearly agreed on the terms and conditions on which China had expressed its reservations.
Nepal’s demand that the BRI projects should be funded through Chinese grants was the main issue for the negotiation.
The ruling parties—Nepali Congress and CPN-UML—had earlier forged an agreement that the government would not implement BRI projects under loan at least for now, given that the country’s economy is in a bad shape to implement big projects under loan.
The two parties reached consensus on the issue after a week-long discussions, even as the UML pushed for implementing a few BRI projects under loan.
The Nepali side subsequently shared a draft of the Framework Agreement on BRI Cooperation for the consideration of the Chinese side. But as there was some reservation from the Chinese side, the two countries agreed to hold further discussions on the draft framework on BRI cooperation.
The final agreement was signed on Wednesday afternoon, on the third day of PM Oli’s visit.
