President Bidya Devi Bhandari will leave for China on April 24 to participate in the second summit of the Belt and Road Initiative.
The official itinerary of President Bhandari has yet to be revealed but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nepali Embassy in Beijing are busy making preparations for her visit.
The second summit of BRI will start from April 25 in Beijing. Nepal has already signed on the BRI brought by China to connect countries in Asia, Africa and Europe by land and sea routes.
Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali told Setopati that President Bhandari will reach Beijing via Xi'an where she will hold discussion with province level leaders of the Communist Party of China.
President Bhandari will hold bilateral meeting with her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping apart from taking part in the BRI summit while in Beijing. "The two countries will sign on the protocol of transit treaty, signed between Nepal and China three years ago, during the meeting of two presidents," Minister Gyawali said.
The two countries had concluded the protocol in September 2018. Nepal can use four ports and three dry ports in China for international trade as per the protocol.
Secretary at the Commerce Ministry Kedar Bahadur Adhikari said the proposal for signing the protocol has already been sent to the Foreign Ministry.
President Bhandari will also participate in a horticulture exhibition to be held near Beijing from April 29.
She will visit the autonomous region of Tibet from Beijing. She is scheduled to return home on May 2 after completing her Tibet visit.
