On the eve of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha’s China visit, concerned ministries are working to finalize the BRI Implementation Plan, The Kathmandu Post reports. Shrestha is scheduled to commence his China visit on Sunday.
Amid the opposition from the Nepali Congress and a few other leaders of the coalition government, BRI implementation is expected to be at the center of bilateral discussion during Minister Shrestha’s visit. However, the government has yet to officially decide to sign the implementation plan.
The BRI implementation plan is supposed to finalize the funding modality and projects to be constructed within the BRI framework.
Nepal had signed the framework agreement of BRI in May 2017. As of yet, the text of the agreement has not been public.
Nepal’s major concern is the funding modality to execute projects under the BRI umbrella. The then Prime Minister Deuba before the general elections in 2022 had communicated to visiting Liu Jianchao, head of CPC’s International Liaison Department that Nepal would accept only grants if BRI projects were to be implemented in Nepal. Nepal cannot afford high interest rates on BRI projects, and prioritizes grants and concessional loans with longer payback periods.
Speaking in the parliament on Wednesday, former Minister for Finance Prakash Sharan Mahat mentioned that he was not against the BRI implementation, but Nepal should not opt for commercial loans. “BRI was signed when I was Foreign Minister in 2017. But Chinese loans in current conditions are problematic. We should not accept loans on commercial rates and there should be international bidding on BRI projects”, he said.
Former Minister Mahat and his stance not to proceed with the BRI implementation plan is accused as one of the factors for the change in the Congress-Maoists coalition government.