- Title: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Nepal for state visit
- Date: 12th October 2019
- Summary: MOTORCADE TRANSPORTING PRESIDENT XI TO HOTEL SOALTEE
- Embargoed: 26th October 2019 15:56
- Keywords: Chinese President Xi Jinping Nepal President Xi
- Location: KATHMANDU, NEPAL
- City: KATHMANDU, NEPAL
- Country: Nepal
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA005B0SKKEF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Nepal on Saturday (October 12) on a state visit, making him the first Chinese president to visit the country in 22 years.
Xi has made the visit to engage in talks with Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, which will take place on Sunday. Both sides are expected to sign a deal expanding a railway link between the Himalayan nation and Tibet, officials said.
The president of Nepal, Bidya Devi Bhandari, greeted Xi on arrival at the airport, and thousands of Nepalese residents stood along the route to welcome the Chinese leader as he drove from the airport to the hotel.
Nepal sees the rail link with China as an alternative to its dependence on India. New Delhi accounts for nearly two-thirds of Nepal's trade and is the sole source of its fuel supply.
A prolonged blockade of its border crossings with India in 2015 and 2016 left Nepal short of fuel and medicine for months.
President Xi arrived from India, where he had conducted talks with Indian President Narendra Modi.
(Production: Yubaraj Sharma / Hannah Ellison) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
