Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi Photo: Courtesy of Hou Yanlin

The year 2020 will see a peak of Chinese tourists visiting Nepal as both countries will further advance economic and trade ties in the new year through more cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi told the Global Times on Thursday.

China is the second-largest tourism source country for Nepal and the number of Chinese tourists visiting Nepal rose 11.5 percent year-on-year to 135,000 in the first ten months of 2019, Hou said, citing data released by the Nepali authorities. 

In October 2019, President Xi Jinping made a successful state visit to Nepal as residents in Kathmandu spontaneously went into the streets and showed their warm welcome. This scene left a deep impression on the Chinese people, and more of them began to pay close attention to Nepal, hoping to enjoy the unique snowy scenery and experience its long history and culture, the ambassador noted. 

Nepal has designated 2020 as Visit Nepal Year, and it aims to attract 2 million foreign tourists, which is an ambitious step up from 2018's total of 1.17 million visits. 

The Nepali government has rolled out many favorable policies to attract more global visitors, especially more Chinese tourists, Hou said, noting that at present, direct flights are linking Kathmandu and nine Chinese cities, with nearly 60 flights per week. 

In 2019, China and Nepal achieved much progress in economic and trade ties. Chinese investment in Nepal reached $114 million in Nepal's 2018-19 financial year, making China the largest investor in the Himalayan country for a fourth consecutive year, according to the ambassador. 

"As a new force in Nepal's infrastructure construction industry, Chinese enterprises are active in transportation, energy, communications, agriculture, tourism and other sectors, greatly promoting bilateral trade and investment cooperation."

During President Xi's visit to Nepal in October last year, the two sides announced plans to establish working groups on investment cooperation and trade, which the ambassador said has "provided systematic guarantees for both countries to further expand economic and trade cooperation in the future."

The year 2020 will be the "early harvest year" for both countries to implement the leaders' consensus, she said, noting that relevant departments are focusing on relevant work and have made a lot of progress, especially in areas including a joint feasibility study of a bilateral free trade agreement, choosing the location of a China-Nepal cross-border economic cooperation zone, food import and export safety, production capacity and investment.

As Nepal is committed to economic transformation, the country has large demand for infrastructure in terms of railways, roads and airports and the cooperation based on the BRI has provided an important opportunity for Nepal to improve its domestic and external links, Hou said.

In 2020, China and Nepal will continue to advance the feasibility study on a cross-border railway from Gyirong, Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, to Kathmandu and to improve the function of Tibet's Zhangmu port, she said.

Zhangmu port, which was shut down due to earthquake damages in Nepal in 2015, resumed freight transportation in May 2019. The port has so far operated in a sound manner with increased freight and trade volume, Hou said.