Nepali Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli (second, left) is welcomed at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on May 9 (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Nepali Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli began his officialvisit to Vietnam on May 9, during which he will attend the UN Day of Vesak 2019.
Accompany him in thefour-day visit are Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Advisors to the PMBishnu Prasad Rimal and Rajan Bhattarai, and Nepali Ambassador to ThailandKhaganath Adhikari, among others.
Vietnam and Nepal setup their diplomatic relations on May 15, 1975 and have maintained soundrelations in many areas. The two sides have regularly exchanged delegations invarious areas from politics to trade.
Over the past 44years, Vietnam has offered support to Nepal, including 50,000 USD in aid tohelp it deal with earthquake consequences in 2015. Nepal has supported Vietnamin citizen protection. The two sides are working together on the signing of anagreement on visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders.
The two countries havesupported and collaborated with each other at multilateral and internationalforums. Cultural and tourism cooperation as well as people-to-people exchangehave been strengthened.
However, economic andtrade cooperation between Vietnam and Nepal has remained modest. By September2018, two-way trade reached only 38 million USD. Vietnam mostly exported toNepal peppercorn and plastic products, while importing garment-textilematerials, leather, and footwear. Currently, the Viettel MilitaryIndustry-Telecommunication Group is exploring investment opportunities inNepal.
The visit takes placein the context of smooth developments in the traditional friendship betweenVietnam and Nepal, especially collaboration through the Party channel andeconomic-trade partnership.
Vesak 2019, or the16th UN Day of Vesak, will be celebrated at the Tam Chuc Buddhism CultureCentre in Kim Bang district of northern Ha Nam province from May 12-14.-VNA
