• China lifts travel advisories for Chinese nationals 

• Nepal announces to waive visa fee to Chinese tourists

KATHMANDU: Nepal and China on Friday agreed to expand and consolidate bilateral cooperation focusing mainly on trade, transit, investment, energy, tourism and infrastructure development, Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. In a bilateral meeting held in Beijing, the two sides agreed to upgrade and operationalise the existing border points and develop the other border points to promote connectivity between the two countries. The agreement was made when Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamal Thapa and China's Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi met in the latter's office in Beijing today. According to MoFA, the Chinese side has agreed to give priority to the reopening of the Tatopani-Zhangmu border point, which has been disrupted after the April 25 earthquake. Also, the intergovernmental mechanisms have been tasked to advance negotiations on the proposals on free trade area, transit and Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (BIPPA), it added in a statement. What is more, responding to Nepal's request, China has expressed its willingness to 'seriously examine Nepal's proposals for importation of petroleum products from China and has advised the respective companies of the two countries to jointly examine the matters relating to price, transportation and other logistics.' 'As a friendly gesture, China will make available additional fuel to northern areas of Nepal bordering Tibet Autonomous Region,' MoFA said. In order to promote people to people contact, the Chinese side informed the Nepali delegation that travel advisories issued in the context of earthquake in Nepal was lifted with immediate effect while Deputy Prime Minister Thapa reciprocated the friendly gesture of his Chinese counterpart by announcing that the Government of Nepal would waive visa fees for Chinese tourists, according to MoFA. The Chinese side further told the Nepali delegation that it would soon take up agreed projects for post-disaster reconstruction as per its pledged assistance during the International Conference on Nepal's Reconstruction, and announced its willingness to support Nepal's industrialisation process through reconstruction. Meanwhile,  Nepal's Finance Secretary Lok Darshan Regmi and Vice Minister of Commerce of China Zhang Xiangchen signed the Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation under which China would make available RMB 900 million as grant assistance for the implementation of the projects of repair and maintenance of Araniko Highway and other projects of interconnection and interworking. The assistance assistance was announced by the Chinese President during his meeting with his Nepali counterpart, Ram Baran Yadav, in Boao, Hainan in in March earlier this year. READ ALSO: Nepal seeks long-term trade with China to escape energy crisis