During the fifth Nepal-Tibet Trade Facilitation Committee (NTTFC) meeting held in Lhasa during September 25-26, the Chinese side made the confirmation, according to members of the Nepali delegation.

“The Chinese side has agreed to forward our proposal to the central government in Beijing,” said Jib Raj Koirala, joint secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, who led the Nepali delegation. “They also urged Nepal to approach the Chinese government in Beijing.”

The Chinese team at the NTTFC was led by Ciden Nanjie, deputy secretary general of the local government of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway reached Shigatse in August. With the 253-km track linked to Tibet’s second city, the high-elevation railway has reached closer to Nepal.

“We plan to extend the line up to Kerung in the long run,” Yang Chu Lin, an official at the Shigatse Railway Service, told Nepali journalists during the inauguration of the Lhasa-Shigatse track.

Shigatse is 540 km from Kerung, the nearest Chinese town from Nepal. The bordering Nepali district of Rasuwa is 35 km from there.

According to Nepali delegation members to the NTTFC, the Chinese side also agreed in principle to build an alternative cargo route from Rasuwagadhi to Kathmandu. “As the current road is for passenger vehicles, it cannot sustain the flow of lorries,” said Koirala. “The Chinese side pledged to present the matter to their central government.”

According to him, this is the first time that both the issues of railway and new trade route were discussed at the NTTFC as key agenda and both have been mentioned in the agreement.

With Nepal requesting clearance for cargo containers from the alternative Rasuwagadhi-Kerung border point, the Chinese side has agreed to opening the route. “But it is not clear how many containers will be allowed,” said Koirala.

Currently, China allows only two to three containers to enter Nepal via Kerung daily, with the Khasa-Tatopani route handling the bulk of the Nepal-Tibet trade. China also agreed to provide training to Nepali exporters as the country’s export has been small despite China providing duty free access to 7,787 Nepali goods. The training will make Nepali traders aware of the duty free access. The two sides also agreed to develop western borders between the two countries with road and other infrastructure.