Nepal PM Oli to visit China for SCO summit

Kathmandu, Aug 14 (PTI) Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli will visit China later this month to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping among others.

Oli will embark on August 30 for a five day visit to China to attend the Tianjin Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), according to sources close to the Prime Minister.

The Tianjin Summit of the SCO will be held from August 31 to September 1.

However, there is no official announcement of the visit as yet.

Oli's visit to China comes weeks ahead of his scheduled visit to India towards mid-September. The visit to New Delhi, too, is yet to be announced officially.

Raghubir Mahaseth, head of foreign affairs of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) party, confirmed Oli's travel to China on August 30. Mahaseth, however, gave no details.

Oli is also likely to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to the northern neighbour, sources said.

Nepal joined SCO as Dialogue Partner after signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SCO Secretariat on March 22, 2016. The MoU defines scope of Nepal's engagement with SCO in the field of trade, transit and investment, energy, agriculture, small and medium business; security issues; legal and customs affairs; transport and communications; science and technology, education, health, culture and tourism, and disasters.

The prime minister had earlier paid an official visit to China in December 2024, months after assuming office for the fourth time last year. PTI SBP NPK NPK