A cross-party delegation of the federal parliament left for Beijing on Sunday on a 10-day visit to China.

The 20-member team, led by CPN (Maoist Centre) Chief Whip Hitraj Pandey and including 17 parliament members from various political parties and three officials of the Parliament Secretariat, left for Beijing, said a statement issued by the secretariat.

The visiting team consists of five members each from Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, three from CPN (Maoist Centre) and one each from Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Janata Samajbadi Party and CPN (Unified Socialist).

The parliamentarians went to China to participate in the programme of the International Business Academy under the Ministry of Commerce of China. While in China, the visiting team is also scheduled to visit Nanjing and Jiangyin cities.

The delegation constitutes Yuvraj Sharma, Ramnath Adhikari, Ain Bahadur Shahi, Saraswati Bajimay and Kusum Devi Thapa from Nepali Congress; Damodar Bairagi, Manbir Rai, Nirmala Koirala, Rukmini Rana Baraili and Bhagwati Neupane from CPN-UML; and Pandey, Jag Prasad Sharma and Narayani Sharma from Maoist Centre.

Chief Whip Santosh Pariyar of Rastriya Swatantra Party, Anisha Nepali of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Prakash Adhikari from Janata Samajbadi Party and Metmani Chaudhary, chief whip of the Unified Socialist, are also the part of the visiting team.

Three officials from the parliament secretariat are also part of the entourage. After completing the 10-day visit, the parliamentary team is scheduled to return to Kathmandu on December 30. Earlier, a party delegation each from CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Centre), and CPN (Unified Socialist), among others, had also visited China.