HEADLINE NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Their Majesties accorded warm welcome in Shanghai
‘Visit will contribute to further ties’

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

Shanghai, Mar. 2: Their Majesties King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev and Queen Aishwarya Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah arrived here from Beijing on a special flight on Friday evening on the last leg of Their Majesties’ week-long State Visit to the People’s Republic of China. HRH Prince Nirajan also arrive in Shanghai on the special flight.

On arrival at the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, Their Majesties were received by Vice Mayor of Shanghai City Zhou Yu Peng.

Later in the evening, a dinner was hosted in Their Majesties’ honour by Executive Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Chen Liung Yu. Their Majesties were also taken around the famous Bund Street of the port city.

RSS adds from Beijing: His Majesty the King had a busy round of meetings with top Chinese leaders here this morning.

His Majesty first met with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji at Zhonguanhai, the huge complex in Beijing where the offices of many top Chinese leaders are located.

Also this morning, His Majesty met with Chinese Vice-President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People.

That meeting was followed by a meeting between His Majesty and Chairman Li Peng of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, also at the Great Hall of the People.

In course of the meetings His Majesty expressed happiness at the opportunity to meet with the Chinese leaders.

His Majesty spoke about strengthening ties with China into the next century and what further areas of cooperation there were.

Welcoming His Majesty, the Chinese leaders said the present visit would contribute to furthering the ties between Nepal and China. The two countries are very friendly neighbours, it was pointed out and reference was also made to the historical ties between the two countries.

The meetings took place in a cordial atmosphere.

Also present from the Nepalese side during the meetings were Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola, Foreign Secretary Narayan Shumsher Thapa, press secretary to His Majesty the King Mohan Bahadur Pandey, and Royal Nepalese Ambassador to China Rajeshwar Acharya.

Present from the Chinese side were deputy chairman of the National People’s Congress Bu He, NPC deputy general secretary Lu Chong Ming and the director general of the NPC foreign affairs bureau.

Vice Foreign Minister Wang Li and Chinese ambassador to Nepal Zeng Xuyong were present at all three meetings.

Vice Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Sun Guang Xiang and Secretary to the Premier Li Wei were also present at His Majesty’s meeting with Premier Zhu Rongji. The director general of the Asian Department of the Foreign Ministry and the secretary to the Vice President were also present during His Majesty’s meeting with the Vice President.

Earlier, Their Majesties the King and Queen graced a reception hosted in honour of Their Majesties at the Royal Nepalese Embasy here today by Royal Nepalese Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China Rajeshwar Acharya.

His Royal Highness Prince Nirajan was present on the occasion.

Also present at the reception was Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola.

Foreign secretary Narayan S. Thapa, other members of the Royal entourage, members of the business delegation accompanying the Royal entourage, former ambassadors, friends and well wishers of Nepal, the director general of Inbar, the international network for bamboo and ratan of which Nepal is founder member, academics and Nepalese students in Beijing also attended the reception.

Meanwhile, Her Majesty the Queen visited the Donghuamen Kindergarten, one of the oldest Kindergartens in Beijing this morning.

Her Majesty was welcomed and briefed about its activities by the Principal of the Kindergarten, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Her Majesty the Queen was accompanied by HRH Prince Nirajan.

Her majesty the Queen also signed the visitors’ book at the Kindergarten.

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