Chinese foreign minister beginning Nepal visit

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 2 Dec: One week after Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee held discussions on increasing Beijing influence in Nepal, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi arrives for a three-day visit.
During the visit, China will sign an accord Wednesday announcing increased Chinese assistance to Nepal.
Discussions will also center on Prime Minister Prachanda’s proposed visit to Nepal in 2009.
Nepal and China, of late, have been exchanging high-level visits.
Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal visited China this year and one Chinese military delegation has visited Nepal and another is visiting this month,
During Badal’s China, Beijing announced a Rs 100 million military assistance,
India looks at Chinese military assistance with suspicious; in 1989 New Delhi imposed a crippling economic on land-locked Nepal protesting exports of Chinese military assistance to the strategic Himalayan state bordering Tiber in the north.
The series of high-level Nepal visits is to prepare the groundwork for a Nepal visit either by Chinese President Hu Jintao or the prime minister.
Foreign Minister yang flies to Burma after concluding his Nepal visit.
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Bangladesh trade fair this month

Kathmandu, 2 Dec: Bangladesh is holding a single country four-day trade fair in the capital from Thursday to promote its exports to Nepal.
Thirty-seven Bangladehsi firms are participating.
Overland trade between two South Asian nations, through India, is minimal.
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