The ruling Nepal Communist Party and the Communist Party of China signed a six-point bilateral agreement in Kathmandu on Tuesday.

This is the first agreement of cooperation after the formation of a powerful communist party in Nepal since the merger of the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led CPN (Maoist Centre) and the KP Sharma Oli-led CPN-UML in May last year. Earlier, the CPC had signed similar agreements separately with the Maoist Centre and the UML.

Tuesday’s agreement coincides with a two-day symposium on Xi Jinping Thought where Chief of International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China Song Tao and other CPC officials imparted ‘training’ to around 200 Nepal Communist Party (NCP) leaders.

Ram Karki, deputy chief of the International Department, said that the agreement was just an attempt to formalise the exchanges that the two communist parties have been practising for a long time.

“We have been doing all these activities for a long time now. I myself have taken part in many sessions of political training in China,” said Karki, a former minister.

Karki, who is also a lawmaker, said that the agreement includes a point that the two parties won’t interfere in the internal matters of the other party.

Until Oli assumed office as prime minister, Nepali communist parties’ relations with the Chinese party were limited to a few bilateral visits and agreements. But Tuesday’s agreement, formalising all past exchanges between the communist parties of the two countries, has led many to wonder if Nepal’s communist party is trying to follow in the footsteps of the Communist Party of China. This is a concern that many, including the primary opposition party, have raised ever since the training programme was announced.

In what appeared to be a bid to dispel those concerns, Oli, during the inauguration of the symposium, said there are some differences in the characteristics of Nepal’s communist parties from those of China’s. He, however, defined Xi Jinping Thought as a noble concept for development, prosperity and peaceful international relations.

“There is no particular formula that the parties have to follow,” said Oli. “Learning from someone is not copying either.”

The country needs to apply Marxism as per its need and move on the path of development accordingly, the prime minister said.

“China has presented its own model of socialism,” said Oli. “Both the parties are not going to cut their feet to fit their shoes; they want to apply Marxism in an innovative way, based on the particular needs of the country.”