Chief of the Army Staff General Prabhu Ram Sharma has left for China to attend the Beijing-Xiangshan Forum scheduled to be held from Friday to November 2.

Defence Secretary Kiran Raj Sharma and Lieutenant General Sitaram Khadka saw off the Nepal Army chief at the Tribhuvan International Airport on Friday.

The forum, which was originally named Xiangshan Forum, was initiated by the China Association of Military Science (CAMS) in 2006 as a track 2 platform for Asia-Pacific security dialogue.

It was upgraded to track 1.5 (track 1 plus track 2) in the fifth forum in 2014 when it started involving participants from defence and military establishments, heads of international organisations, former political personalities and retired generals, as well as renowned scholars from both in and out of the Asia-Pacific region, according to the forum’s website.

According to the NA Directorate of Public Relations and Information, Sharma will call on Joint Chief of Staff General Liu Zhenli of CMC of the Chinese Army. He will also visit different units and training centres of the Chinese Army in Xi’an, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The NA chief will return home on November 2.