Dissatisfaction of Congress MPs saying that Prime Minister Oli promised not to take loans in the meeting of the ruling party and agreed on BRI by going on his own visit to China.
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Foreign Minister Arju Rana Deuba has said that there is no loan word in the 'Framework Agreement' of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) during Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's visit to China. He told the parliamentary committee on Thursday that the draft of the agreement was prepared after thorough study and arrangements were made to receive development aid from China, but the word loan was not mentioned anywhere.
Prime Minister Oli went to China last November 17-20. At the last stage of the visit, the 'BRI Cooperation Framework' was signed. With the agreement on the 'framework' of the agreement promoted by China and signed in 2017, it was confirmed that BRI would officially proceed in Nepal. Oli, who promised not to sign the BRI with the ruling party Congress before the visit to China, insisted on signing the framework at the end of the visit. The Congress leader, who is commenting publicly on the
agreement, has also been raising questions on the matter in the parliamentary committee. In the meeting of the Parliament's International Relations and Tourism Committee on Monday, Congress MPs also raised questions about BRI. Congress MP Bimalendra Nidhi commented that before the Prime Minister's visit to China, Oli had promised that Congress and UML would not agree to take loans under BRI, but that behavior was not seen in China.
In the meeting of the ruling party, Nidhi said that it was not right to make a commitment not to take a loan, and during the visit to China, it was not right to take the initiative to make an agreement on BRI. Before leaving for the visit, Prime Minister Oli had promised not to agree on anything other than subsidies in the meeting of Congress and UML. But in China, an agreement has been reached to take a loan from the BRI,' said Nidhi, 'It would be appropriate if we could call the Prime Minister to the Parliament and the Parliamentary Committee to get information about his visit to the US and China, the confusion can be removed rather than the documents that came out publicly about the agreement in China.' He also demanded that it be officially submitted to the parliamentary committee through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In response to
, Foreign Minister Rana said that the word loan was not used in the BRI agreement. It is a document prepared after studying 20,000 times about BRI. It is a more modified document than the previous document and the word loan is not there as you read it. The words grant and aid are no different from the English that I understand and even now when I search on Google,' Minister Rana said, 'The word loan is not mentioned anywhere. It was called grant, we have come to what is called development aid. The meaning of ``ed'' is also found if you open a dictionary. In the
committee, MPs also raised questions about China's listing of Pokhara Airport under BRI. Minister Rana also clarified that Pokhara Airport, which was built with China's loan assistance, is not under BRI.
'Pokhara airport was signed in 2016 before the BRI was signed,' he said, 'Let us also think that we must take a loan as soon as the BRI is signed. Consensus is prepared.
Minister Rana said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is ready to hold another meeting if the parliamentarians need to understand more about BRI. She also said that she is ready to provide explanations for MPs from foreign affairs officials, legal experts, and international experts involved in such work.
When she went to China for the preparation of the Prime Minister's visit to China, Rana informed that even in her meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Nepal was not in a position to take any kind of loan. Rana said that whatever projects have been signed during the Prime Minister's visit to China, they will come under development cooperation.
Congress MP Yogesh Gauchan Thakali also questioned what kind of loan the government is preparing to take according to the BRI agreement. In terms of BRI, what kind of loan Nepal can afford, has the government prepared? Whoever is in power in the state, we should be serious considering the nature of internal and external debt mobilization," he said. RPP MP Pashupatishamsher Jabara also questioned whether the BRI agreement provided for borrowing.
Foreign Minister Rana, who repeatedly reiterated that there was no agreement to take a loan from BRI, said that the Foreign Minister of China has promised to help in operating Pokhara Airport. She informed that along with China, India has given priority to the relationship with Nepal and dialogue, contact and interaction with both neighbors is ongoing. "Various bilateral meetings, exchange of visits, contact and dialogue are taking place, both countries have been supporting Nepal since the past. This cooperation and goodwill will continue in the coming days as well," she said.
