Nepal should lobby for China’s inclusion in SAARC

Last week, at the official request of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, the Nepal-China Non-Governmental Forum, had arranged a Luncheon in honor of the visiting Chinese media delegation in Nepal.

The Forum, I was told, is a branch of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers-Commerce and Industries whose sitting president is Mr. Chandi Prasad Dhakal-who is concurrently one of the ice Presidents of the FNCCI.

A total of seven Chinese journalists, two ladies included, graced the luncheon thrown in their honor by the Forum president.

Mr. Dhakal made very important revelations regarding Nepal’s growing ties with China mainly on the trade and commerce sector.

As was expected and a matter of courtesy as well, Mr. Dhakal lauded China’s unconditional developmental assistance to Nepal and thanked the Chinese side for their recent declaration which now makes Nepal a tourist destination for the Chinese people.

What was not known to me and I suppose to many others like me is that there does exist a sister forum in China, the All China Federation of Industries and Commerce, ACFIC, which had already made seventh round of meetings in order to facilitate trade relations in between the two ancient countries. According to Mr. Dhakal, the eighth round of this meeting is to be held in China most likely by the end of this year. In order to let the businessmen know of their own products which could be exported from one to the other, the two Forums located in Kathmandu and Beijing respectively, supply information to those who need it. To help support this Forum, a total of five task-force have been constituted in the sectors such as Tourism, Agro-products, Civil Aviation, Energy and Trade. Not very surprising therefore that the task force has translated the Nepali Investment Policy in Chinese language so that the businessmen from the other country could get it easily and decide on which sectors to invest. The Nepali side wished the same treatment from the Chinese side which would allow the Nepali investors to select the areas wherein they can concentrate their business efforts.

It was only but natural that Mr. Dhakal appealed the visiting journalists to write information on Nepal in a manner that attracted the attention of the Chinese investors in Nepal. This he said because much bad has been projected by certain alien media men on Nepal events in the recent times.

Notably, the activities of the Forum coincided with those of the government level bilateral Joint Economic Committee. Both aimed at the expansion of Nepal-China bilateral ties at all the possible levels.

Statistic have it that Nepal is on the deficit side. Mr. Dhakal opined that Nepal’s trade deficit could be brought down to a much low level if the Chinese side cooperated Nepal in expanding the exports to China by exploring the possibilities of such a situation. To do this, suggested Mr. Dhakal, Nepal and China could go in for a massive joint venture scheme whose final products could well be exported to China and to the overseas. This could be one option wherein Nepal can reduce its trade deficit that ran in millions and millions.

The attending Chinese journalists assured their Nepali hosts from the trade and business sector that they would inform their readers.

What I could notice from the two way talks at the luncheon that the Chinese journalists knew pretty less about Nepal comparatively speaking. The fault lies not with the Chinese side but with our own duffer diplomats who once made the Ambassador, prefer to take rest in the host country as if they upon their return to their country might not get enough time to sleep. Our diplomats have been enjoying Ambassadorial posts abroad with good and hefty salaried sleep.

What China can do is not important. However, what is important is that how Nepal could convince this long-time friendly neighbor in order to extract greater trade and business concessions from that country which will allow our products to enter into their markets and that too in massive quantities.

Lack of economic diplomacy indeed.

China constructed the road that links Kathmandu to the Chinese border. It is we who can’t even maintain the roads. They are constructing other few roads that will open their markets to us. How to exploit this opportunity is not their problem. A railway connection is soon to link Mainland China with Tibet. How to benefit from that should be our problem.

After all, what the Chinese have asked from us as yet that has gone against our genuine national interests?

Gossiping in Kathmandu’s diplomatic circuits and holding endless seminars will not enhance Nepal’s image neither abroad nor in China.

Be that as it may, I was thoroughly convinced from what Dhakal and his friend, Mr. Binod Bahadur Shrestha, told the Chinese journalists.

If we don’t have enough Aircraft and can’t bring in the willing Chinese tourists, it is not the fault of the tourists.

Summing it up, China appears to support Nepal in more ways than one. How to convincingly bad that support should be our problem to be managed by ourselves.

Unless we annoyed the Chinese side on some counts, I think that the Chinese leadership will continue extending its support to Nepal and that too unconditionally as usual. Of late China has been exhibiting its interest in the SAARC organization. It was time that Nepal lobbied for China’s inclusion in the regional body immaterial of the consequences of such a (mis)adventure on the part of Nepal?

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