KATHMANDU: Representatives from Nepal-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry have held discussions with the newly appointed Ambassador of Nepal to China Bishnu Pukar Shrestha on Monday.

Officials Nepal-China CCI discussed the existing state of economic and trade relations and exchanges between Nepal and China with Ambassador Shrestha.

On the occasion, Nepal-China CCI President Tribhuvandhar Tuladhar stressed the need of holding various activities between the two countries to revive the economic, trade, tourism and investment sectors, which have been hit hard by COVID-19 for the past few years.

He also urged Ambassador Shrestha to take initiatives to seek solutions to the existing problems seen in Tatopani and Kerung border points, and work to expand China-Nepal flight services for smooth operation and exchange of trade and business between the two countries.

Tuladhar added initiatives should be taken for the promotion of export of goods from Nepal to China.

He also apprised the ambassador that Nepali businesspersons were not issued business visas by China even though the same is not an issue in other countries and initiatives were to be taken to provide business visas to Nepali businesspersons.

Nepal-China CCI President Tuladhar also conveyed that traders faced problems while entering and exiting border crossings in the absence of provision of visas and passes at border points between Nepal and China. He reminded that it was essential to develop and expand the road network and physical infrastructure as soon as possible to connect transit points of the two countries.

He also viewed that direct air links from major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai should be expanded and a Chinese bank ought to be established to increase banking transactions.

Newly-appointed Ambassador Bishnu Pukar Shrestha assured that he would work to reduce the trade deficit and expand Nepal’s export to China, create favorable environment to increase Chinese investment and promote tourism. He also expressed commitment to solve various problems faced by Nepali traders.

He thanked Nepal-China CCI for apprising him about the existing state of affairs, including trade and economy, and for providing suggestions focused on increasing export from Nepal to China.