Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba left for China on Thursday for an official visit at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

This marks Rana’s first visit to China since her appointment as foreign minister. Acting Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Amrit Bahadur Rai and other officials bid her farewell at Tribhuvan International Airport.

During her visit, Minister Rana is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, on Friday.

The visit comes ahead of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s planned visit to China next week, as part of preparations for his trip. Minister Rana is expected to return to Nepal on Saturday.

Foreign Minister Rana, during her meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang in Chengdu, will convey the message of the Oli-led coalition government and present Nepal’s proposal with regard to implementing projects under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

As the prime minister is set to visit the northern neighbour on December 2, the BRI is now in focus. Various quarters are keen to see how Nepal will navigate and negotiate the BRI deal with China. The two ruling coalition partners–the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML–have been holding continuous negotiations to forge a common position of the two ruling parties and finalise Nepal’s positions on the support to receive from the northern neighbour.