Japanese delegation holds high-level meeting in Nepal

KATHMANDU: A delegation including the MP of Japan's ruling party 'Liberal Democratic' and former State Minister Taira Masaki has held a high-level meeting in Nepal. The team met with high-ranking leaders including Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'.
A three-member team that came to Nepal on Wednesday with the aim of further strengthening Nepal-Japan relations met and discussed with Prime Minister Dahal, Chairman of Nepali Congress Sher Bahadur Deuba, and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel on Friday. On the occasion of the meeting, Prime Minister Dahal said that Japan is Nepal's oldest friend and thanked Japan for its continuous support in the economic and social development of Nepal. He added that Nepal has received a lot of support from JICA and other organizations along with the Japanese government.

Similarly, in a meeting with Nepali Congress chairman Sher Bahadur Deuba, party chairman Deuba thanked Japan for its continuous support in the development of Nepal since long ago. Deuba also informed that in addition to the budgetary support, Japan has been willingly helping in natural disasters such as covid, earthquakes, floods, and landslides.

MP Masaki's team also met with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel on Friday. In the meeting, Masaki informed that Nepal's neighboring country India has received loan assistance from Japan at low-interest rates for various projects. He asked Nepal to take initiative to take such loans from Japan. On that occasion, Finance Minister Poudel agreed to get Japan's cheap loan assistance and that he would take immediate steps for it saying that there is a lack of resources for development projects.

The same team also met two former Prime Ministers KP Sharma Oli and Madhav Kumar Nepal on Thursday. The Japanese team came to Nepal at the invitation of Bhavan Bhatta, former president and patron of the Non-Resident Nepali Association.