Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong on Monday said Beijing wants to work with Nepal to consolidate bilateral relations.

Addressing the concluding ceremony of the Post Flood Recovery Programme in the Tarai Region of Nepal, Yu said, “China is willing to continue as always providing assistance and support

to Nepal within its capacity and make contribution to post-disaster reconstruction and socio-economic development.”

The Post Flood Recovery Programme was carried out by the United Nations Development Programme Nepal with $4 million from the Chinese government. At the event, envoy Yu and UNDP Country Director Renaud Meyer exchanged documents that marked formal closure of the project.

In the project implemented from mid-November last year to February 2018, non-food items including utensils, blankets and shawls, lasting insecticide bed nets, clean cooking stoves, water filter and hygienic kits were distributed among the affected households.

The assistance provided under the framework of Chinese South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund, according to the Chinese envoy, has reached more than 31,800 households in Dhanusha, Mahottari, Parsa, Saptari, Sarlahi and Sunsari districts of Provinces 1 and 2, the most affected districts assessed by the UNDP.

Nepal in the second week of August last year experienced heavy and sustained rainfall resulting in widespread flooding across 35 districts. Around 1.7 million people were affected in 18 districts.

According to the Post Flood Recovery Needs Assessment carried out by the National Planning Commission, more than 190,000 houses were destroyed or partially damaged, displacing tens of thousands of people and rendering many homeless.

This is the first China Aid project in Nepal channeled through the UNDP. Meyer lauded the development as the beginning of the UNDP’s new partnership with China.