pkk|wfgdGqL dx/f rLg k|:yfg pkk|wfgdGqL Pjd cy{dGqL s[i0faxfb'/ dx/f k|wfgdGqLsf] ljz]if k|ltlglwsf]?kdf b'O{lbg] rLg e|d0fdf k|:yfg ug]{qmddf cGt/f{li6«o ljdfg:yndf ;f]daf/ laxfg ;~rf/sdL{;Fu s'/f ub}{ . tl:a/ M /Tg >]i7, /f;; Deputy Prime Minister talks to journalists before flying to Beijing on Monday. Photo: RSS
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara left for Beijing on Monday, aiming to convince Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Kathmandu later this year.

Shortly after assuming office one week ago, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal decided to send Mahara to Beijing as his special envoy to convince Xi that 'Nepal is ready to welcome him'.

Before departing, Mahara told a press meet at the Kathmandu Airport that the objective of his visit is to 'strengthen Nepal-China relations in the changed political context."

Early this year, the then-Prime Minister KP Oli — whom Dahal succeeded in unseating — had invited Xi to visit Nepal. Beijing had hinted that Xi could be in Kathmandu in November this year.

But the unravelling of the communist alliance in Kathmandu and Oli's ouster have cast  a shadow over Xi's visit to Nepal, which wants to reduce its over-dependence on India by reaching out to China. During Oli's visit to Beijing, Nepal and China had signed a trade and transit deal, and Dahal now faces pressure to implement that pact, without irking India.

Dahal has also decided to send another Deputy Prime Minister, Bimalendra Nidhi, to India. Nidhi is flying to New Delhi next week with a mandate to prepare the ground for Dahal's India visit and invite Indian President Pranab Mukherjee to Kathmandu.