Nepal’s new government is looking to strengthen political engagement with China and expand cooperation in areas including connectivity, technology, governance and people-to-people exchanges, Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal says.
Speaking of his recent four-day visit to China, Khanal said connectivity is one of Nepal’s top priorities in its cooperation with China, both a neighbor and an important partner for the South Asian country.
“We have seen very impressive infrastructure being built on the Chinese side. We would like to see similar connectivity improvements on the Nepali side as well,” he said.
Improved land and air links would facilitate trade, tourism and people-to-people exchanges, he added.
Khanal expressed hope that his visit would help pave the way for more high-level exchanges between the two countries in the coming months.
“I have invited Foreign Minister Wang Yi to visit Nepal, and we also hope to see more exchanges between leaders from both sides,” he said.
A former minister of education, science and technology, Khanal took the current post in March. He said Nepal sees great potential to work with China in emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence.
“Nepal has a young and technologically savvy population,” he said, adding that it is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the country in terms of tech service exports.
Khanal praised China’s rapid advances in AI, especially the development of powerful and cost-effective models, saying Nepal hopes to leverage such innovations to support its own digital transformation.
Nepal recently announced plans to establish its first sovereign AI data center, and China could be a partner in that effort, he added.
Kathmandu aims to improve public services through digitalization and technology to make such services easily accessible to its people, he said.
“That’s something China has done amazingly well and (which) we would like to learn from,” he said.
Nepal is particularly interested in learning from China’s industrialization, agricultural modernization and technology-driven development, Khanal said.
China’s mechanized agriculture has generated large numbers of jobs in both rural and urban areas, helping power the country’s rapid economic growth, he said.
In recent years, China has also made remarkable progress in homegrown technologies, which have improved efficiency and brought tangible benefits to people’s daily lives, he added.
Highlighting the long and traditional relationship between Nepal and China, Khanal said it is now important to bring dynamism to the relationship between young people of both countries and deepen mutual understanding.
“There is significant interest among young Nepalis in learning from China, particularly in science and technology,” he said, adding that more and more Nepalis are studying Chinese and pursuing higher education and research opportunities in China.
Nepal looks to strengthen collaboration with China
