Nepal and China signed 12 agreements during Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's official visit to Beijing on Monday, which, among others, include promoting bilateral trade, and cooperating in agriculture, fisheries and livestock development, power grid interconnection project, and science, technology and innovation. The agreements were signed between the relevant ministries and commissions of both the countries in the presence of PM Dahal and his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang in the Great Hall of the People, according to a press release issued by the Embassy of Nepal in Beijing. However, both the countries did not issue a joint press statement due to differences of opinion on other issues proposed by China. The memoranda of understanding (MoU) were reached in areas related to the National Planning Commission of Nepal and National Development Reform Commission of China, digital economy, green and low carbon development, agriculture, livestock and fisheries, Nepal-China trade and payment, protocol of phytosanitary requirements for export of plant-derived medicinal materials from Nepal to China, translation and publication of classics, science, technology and innovation, disaster relief material, Hilsa-Simikot road project and the Nepal-China power grid interconnection project (Chilime-Keyrong).

Other agreements apart, the MoU to develop Nepal-China power grid in-terconnection can be said to be a major development, which will open the door for exporting Nepal's electricity even to our northern neighbour.

From now onwards, both the countries will work out a plan of action to construct a 220kV trans-mission line from Chilime to Keyrong, China. Although Nepal and China had already initiated feasibility study on this project five years ago, no progress has been made due to uncertainty in the investment modality. Many hydropower projects in Nepal initiated by various Chinese firms could not kick-start due to lack of market guarantee. Once the proposed transmission line comes into operation, Nepal will no longer need to depend solely on India for the export of its surplus energy produced here. Construction of the north-south transmission line should encourage Chinese companies to invest in Nepal's energy sector.

Nepal's former ambassadors to China said no notable agreement was reached under China's Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI), of which Nepal became a member in 2017. Nepal has been expecting grants to develop infrastructures under the BRI, whereas China's policy is to provide loans as to other countries such as Laos and Indonesia, where railways have been built under the BRI. Over the decades, Nepal and China have reached more than three dozen agreements, but none of them have been implemented, mainly due to Nepal's laxity in following them up.

The trade and transit treaty, for example, was reached in March 2016 when then prime minister KP Oli had paid a visit to China. Under this treaty, Nepal was supposed get access to four seaports and three dry ports for import and export of goods to and from third countries as well. But this agreement has not come into operation as Nepal has not taken any proactive role to make it functional. Looking at the MoUs, we can say that PM Dahal embarked on a visit to China without doing any proper homework.

Market monitoring

The biggest festival of the Nepalis is just round the corner, and it is the time when traders try to make quick money by selling substandard goods or at high prices. Year in year out, traders resort to creating artificial shortages of essential foodstuffs like sugar, cooking oil, rice, wheat flour just before the festivals, and jack up prices for no rhyme or reason. Take sugar, for example, which saw prices rise by Rs 20 a kilo last week. The price of rice in the market rose by Rs 300 for a 25-kilo bag after India imposed a ban on export of non-Basmati rice recently, although Nepal imports only about half a million tons of rice, that too much of it Basmati rice.

There is thus a need for monitoring the market regularly by government agencies so that consumers are not cheated. Since September 13, the monitoring team of the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection has taken action against 180 firms and fined them anywhere between Rs 5000 and Rs 20,000. But will such action against a few hundred firms deter the businessmen from taking undue advantage of the consumers? The consumer forums too must be active and not leave the monitoring job to the government agencies alone.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 27, 2023, of The Himalayan Times