The upcoming China visit of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will focus on the implementation of past agreements and accords, the prime minister’s party CPN-UML said on Saturday. Preparations for the visit to the northern neighbour have already begun, it added.

The meeting of the UML central secretariat, discussed, among other issues, Oli’s upcoming China visit whose formal announcement is yet to be made.

Last Tuesday, Chinese Ambassador Chen Song met with Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal and handed over the invitation for Prime Minister Oli, with the date of the visit kept open for the Nepali side to decide. The Nepal government has proposed December 2-6 as the visit dates but official confirmation is pending.

The prime minister’s China visit will be short, Pradeep Gyawali, deputy secretary general of the UML, said after the meeting. “Our focus will be on implementing the agreements reached during the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Nepal, as well the deals signed during the China visit of Nepali presidents and prime ministers.”

In the past decade, Presidents Ram Baran Yadav and Bidya Devi Bhnadari, and prime ministers Sushil Koirala of Nepali Congress, Oli of the UML and Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the CPN (Maoist Centre) visited China on multiple occasions. Dozens of agreements were signed during these visits. But of late both sides have expressed concerns over the lack of their execution.

Two major ruling partners—the Congress and the UML—have entrusted Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba with the responsibility of coordinating the visit. The two parties recently formed an eight-member political mechanism—comprising four members from each party—in order to support government functioning. One of its recent decisions was to entrust Rana to lead the preparations for the prime minister’s China visit.

After failing to get an invitation from India, a customary first port of call for a new Nepali prime minister, Oli had been mulling going to China instead. With China extending an official invite, Foreign Minister Rana cancelled her visit to Baku, Azerbaijan, where she was to attend the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference on November 11-22.

Prime Minister Oli briefed the party meeting on Saturday that there is good coordination with the Congress and that working with the key ally is getting easier.

“The Congress is supporting the government with full confidence,” an office bearer of the UML quoted Oli as saying at the meeting. “That is why we decided to form a joint political mechanism as well.”

Oli also assured the party leaders about the evolving international situation. He said there were no worries for Nepal about the election of Donald Trump as the US president.

“That I am visiting China first does not mean our relation with India is not good,” said Oli. “We took a position while India imposed a blockade [in 2015-16], so they were not happy. There is no reason for them to be unhappy with us [now] as we will maintain friendly, balanced and good relations with both our neighbours.”

Ahead of Oli's visit, UML senior vice-chairman Ishwar Pokhrel is leading a delegation to the north on Monday at the invitation of the Communist Party of China.

During Oli’s bilateral meetings in China, issues related to mutual interest will be discussed and agreements signed in Nepal’s interest, former foreign minister Gyawali said.

Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Nepal will seek to convert the loan taken to build the Pokhara International Airport into a grant. Also on the potential agenda are signing of the Belt and Road Initiative implementation plan in Nepal and executing some new projects under the BRI framework including at least one mega infrastructure project immediately.

Nepal in 2015 borrowed 1,378.74 million yuan (around Rs25.88 billion) from the China Exim Bank for the Pokhara airport’s construction. The government had previously requested the Chinese side to waive off the loan, as the new airport is struggling to generate revenue without international flights.

An official request for loan waiver was made during a meeting between Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel and Yang Weiqun, vice chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), on August 23 in Kathmandu, according to the finance ministry.

Although the airport came into operation after its inauguration in January 2023, it has failed to generate enough income to sustain itself and service the loan.

Officials indicated that the prime minister is planning to reach a definitive agreement on the BRI implementation plan, which has been pending since early 2020. Representatives from Nepal and China had held several rounds of discussion for signing the implementation plan, but it failed to materialise due to differences among the Nepali political parties.

The National Planning Commission is working on the document and has been exchanging drafts with the Chinese authorities. The Nepali Congress has expressed reservations over the plan, stating that Nepal cannot afford costly loans and prefers grants or concessional loans similar to those offered by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other bilateral and multilateral lenders.

During Oli’s visit, the Nepali side might seek China’s support for one (yet to be selected) big project under the BRI.

The UML meeting also emphasised that Nepal should maintain balanced and good relations with both India and China.

The meeting also discussed the recently concluded BRICS summit in Russia and urged the government to adapt its policies to the changing global politics.

“After analysing and assessing the current international situation, we concluded that we have to maintain good relations with both the neighbours by keeping our national interests at heart,” said Gyawali.

The UML has defended the formation of a joint political mechanism whose stated objective is to extend support and cooperation to the Oli government as well as to those in the provinces and the local level.

“The joint political mechanism was formed not just to discuss the prime minister’s China visit or to make it a success. The [main] reason is to streamline cooperation between the two ruling parties,” said Gyawali.

He said that the mechanism was formed to give momentum to the Oli-led administration as per the policies, priorities and commitments set at the time of government formation.

In the first week of September, the two ruling parties formed a four-member taskforce to draft a common minimum programme of the coalition government. The panel involved General Secretary Gagan Thapa and spokesperson Prakash Sharan Mahat from the Congress, and deputy general secretaries Gyawali and Bishnu Rimal from the UML.