KATHMANDU: President of China, Xi Jinping has arrived here on a two-day state visit to Nepal at the invitation of President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

He arrived here on a special aircraft and landed at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) at 4.45 pm. He arrived from Chennai of India.

President Bhandari, Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli accorded a warm welcome to the Chinese President at the VVIP lounge of the Tribhuvan International Airport. Panchakanyas (five minor girls) also assisted them in welcoming the Chinese dignitary.

Before this, President Bhandari reached President Xi’s aircraft to receive the Chinese dignitary.

National Assembly Chairman, the members of the Council of Ministers including the two Deputy Prime Ministers, Heads of Constitutional Bodies and office-holders, special class officers of the government, the Ambassador of Nepal to China and Chinese Ambassador to Nepal and high officials at the Embassy of China in Kathmandu were also present at the airport to welcome President Xi.

A contingent of the Nepali Army gave a 21-gun salute in honor of the Chinese dignitary on the occasion.

Extensive preparations have been made to make President Xi’s stay in Nepal comfortable and enjoyable. All security bodies have been kept on high alert. The main gate to the airport has been lavishly decorated in the welcome of President Xi.

Members of the general public along with cultural floats of various ethnic communities wearing the costumes representing all the seven provinces of the country and standing in the airport precincts welcomed the Chinese President, waving the Nepali and Chinese national flags.

Both sides of the road, especially from TIA to the place where the Chinese President is to be hosted and his accommodation has been arranged and from there to the President House, Sheetal Niwas, have been decorated in a grand manner. The Chinese President was welcomed with the playing of various traditional Nepali musical instruments from the airport’s gate itself.

Banners and welcome gates have been put up at various locations along the route from the airport via which President Xi’s carcade will pass. Slogans like “Nepal-China Friendship as High as Sagarmatha (Mt Everest)”, “Nepal-China Friendship: Immense, Deep and Firm”, and “Hearty Welcome to the Country of the Buddha and Mt. Everest”, have been inscribed on the banners and the welcome gates.

The main gate at the airport, Tinkune Chowk, Maitighar Mandala, Tripureshwor, Kalimati Chowk, Tahachal, among other places have been beautifully decorated.

A water fountain that gave a reflection of the seven-colored rainbow has been constructed at TIA while flowers in full bloom put alongside President Xi’s carcade route have embellished the airport and the road.

Government employees, school children and a large number of the general public, carrying the national flags of both countries and standing along the route greeted President Xi Jinping right from the airport to his accommodation.

The Chinese President is paying a state visit to Nepal after 23 years. It is believed that President Xi’s visit will leave a lasting impact in enhancing the social, cultural and economic relations between Nepal and China.

During the visit, President Xi is scheduled to meet with President Bhandari today evening. He will also attend a banquet in his honor and the Chinese delegation and also meet President of Nepali Congress (NC) Sher Bahadur Deuba today itself.

Chinese President Xi will also be meeting Chairman of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Sunday. He will also hold delegation-level talks with Prime Minister KP Oli. The two sides will also sign bilateral agreements and memoranda of understanding between the two nations tomorrow before the Chinese President leaves for Beijing.

Security has been heightened in Kathmandu Valley targeting the visit. The government has deployed a total of 15 thousand security personnel from Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, and the National Intelligence Department during the state visit of the Chinese President.