Kathmandu, December 23

Nepal and China today formally inked a sister city agreement between the capital city Kathmandu and Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province of China.

Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Tang Liangzhi, and Executive Director of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Rudra Singh Tamang, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to this effect amidst a function held at the City Hall this evening, according to a press release issued by KMC.

Simultaneously, Chengdu Radio and TV Station also signed an agreement on media cooperation with Nepali media outlets ABC Television and Capital FM.

Last year, Nepal and China had principally agreed on having sister cities relations between Kathmandu and Chengdu so as to explore commonalities in culture and geography between the two cities, and to enhance people-to-people exchanges.

The idea was floated by Secretary Tang himself when he received Nepal’s then visiting deputy prime minister and foreign minister Kamal Thapa in Chengdu on December 27, 2015, to which Thapa had responded positively.

Nepal’s Pokhara City and Kunming of China have already established sister cities relations to promote cultural relations between the two cities through connectivity, tourism, exchanges of high-level visits, and researches.

Tang said that the Memorandum of Understand had put ‘one more stone’ in Sino-Nepal relations and assured of the full support of the Chengdu government to Nepal.

Executive Director Rudra Singh Tamang, on his part, said that the two cities now would explore commonalities in culture, geography, tourism, education sectors between them, as well as enhance people-to-people exchanges.