KATHMANDU: Speaker Devraj Ghimire has said that Nepal has been adhering to the ‘one China’ principle with strong commitment.

The Speaker said this while addressing a programme organized by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China here on Thursday evening, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Nepal and China and the Chinese New Year 2025.

On the occasion, he said China has been a reliable and important development partner of Nepal for a long time.

“Nepal and China have age-old, close, friendly and cooperative relations. Our relationship is cordial, harmonious and multifaceted, built on a strong foundation of mutual trust. Geographical and cultural commonalities as well as people-to-people ties have further strengthened our bilateral relations,” the Speaker said.

He said such programmes would contribute a lot in further strengthening the existing economic, social and cultural ties between the two countries.

Stating that this year is the Year of Snake as per Chinese tradition, he expressed the belief that this New Year would bring more happiness, progress and prosperity to the Chinese friends.

On the occasion, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song said that China has made excellent progress in the last year facing various challenging situations.

Ambassador Chen said that under the central leadership of the Communist Party of China, especially under the guidance of Chairman Xi Jinping, China has ensured its economic development in the midst of a complex international situation.

He said that during the visit of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to China, the Cooperation Framework Agreement was forwarded to jointly promote the Belt and Road Initiative to take ahead the China-Nepal Strategic Cooperative Partnership.

The Chinese Ambassador said that this has taken the strategic partnership of long-term friendship between Nepal and China towards development and prosperity to a new height.

“The development of a three-dimensional connectivity network between the two countries is gaining momentum, 14 traditional border trade points have been fully operational and 48 direct flights are operating in a week,” he said and expressed pleasure to see friends of the two countries visiting each other for tourism, more Chinese entrepreneurs coming to Nepal to invest and do business in Nepal and export of more and more Nepali goods to China.