Kathmandu, April 26

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari today said the China-led Belt and Road Initiative was the engine of development for a prosperous future for all countries within the BRI zone.

Speaking at the high-level meeting of the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, the visiting Nepali president lauded the far-sighted vision of Chinese President Xi Jinping. She stated that president Jinping’s project of building a community of countries for a shared future for mankind through BRI carried a huge potential.

She expressed a firm conviction that the BRI forum attended by 37 heads of the state/government, would be successful in effecting concerted efforts for a just, fair, equitable, inclusive and an orderly world for lasting global peace and prosperity.

“It is an important framework for collaboration, for cooperation and for connectivity,” said President Bhandari, who is on a nine-day state visit to China at the invitation of her Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

Speaking on the theme of ‘Belt and Road Cooperation: Shaping a Brighter Shared Future,’ Bhandari said BRI envisaged mutual efforts for mutual benefit, inclusive development for fair and equitable world order and green development for good health of people and the planet. It promoted openness in place of isolation, cooperation in place of confrontation and win-win cooperation in place of zero-sum game, she said.

“Vis-à-vis the huge resource gap at global level, BRI can play an instrumental role in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Bhandari, who delivered her speech in Nepali.

Stating that BRI laid emphasis on boosting connectivity, developing infrastructure, connecting markets and enhancing cooperation among the nations in the region and beyond, Bhandari said connectivity was of paramount importance for a landlocked country like Nepal for its socio-economic development.

“An enhanced connectivity will open vast opportunities for trade, investment, tourism and people-to-people relations,” she said. “The development of ‘Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network’, including Nepal-China Cross-Border Railway, will boost connectivity not only between Nepal and China but with other countries in the region as well.”

Bhandari also stressed that Nepal government’s objective was to bring about tangible transformation in the living standard of its people, having now achieved political stability after a prolonged political transition.

Guided by the motto ‘Prosperous Nepal: Happy Nepali,’ Nepal’s immediate goal is to graduate from the Least Developed Country status, and become a middle-income country by achieving SDGs before 2030, said Bhandari.

“We’ll like to enhance bilateral as well as multilateral collaboration and cooperation with neighbours and other friendly countries including development partners to overcome our development challenges,” she said.

Bhandari also expressed concerns about protectionism and isolationist tendencies as well as scepticism that stand as hurdles among countries in terms of cooperation and collaboration.

Stating that profound transformation the world has undergone in terms poverty reduction, boosting access to health and education, and technological revolution would have been impossible were it not for cooperation, Bhandari said regressive response to cooperation would not only jeopardise the hard-earned gains, but would also be unjust for future generations.

“We have to acknowledge that the existence of poverty in any corner of the world can be a threat to the whole world,” she said. “Therefore, proliferation of several challenges calls for more collaboration and that unfinished pursuit of development calls for more cooperation, not less. The quest for brighter and better future calls for more connectivity, not less,” remarked Bhandari.

She also said that Asia was a powerhouse of the world economy, and that the region was well poised to play a pivotal role in the future of global prosperity. “A region with many rich civilisations, Asia’s future should be marked by inclusiveness and partnership.”

In the evening, President Bhandari attended a banquet dinner hosted by the Chinese president at the Great Hall of the People. Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Chief Minister of Province 3 Dormani Poudel and senior government officials attended the dinner.

The president is scheduled to participate in the Leaders’ Roundtable of the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation tomorrow and deliver a speech on the thematic session on ‘Promoting Green and Sustainable Development to Implement the United Nations 2030 Agenda’ in the afternoon.