Nepal’s Foreign Minister Jivali will visit India on the 14th to discuss bilateral issues such as vaccine supply with Indian Foreign Minister Sujasin. Indian media quoted Nepalese officials as saying that Nepal prefers to get vaccines from India than Chinese vaccines.
While many countries are approving emergency use of the Chinese Communist virus (COVID-19, Wuhan pneumonia) vaccine, Chinese medical personnel are reportedly refusing to administer the Chinese vaccine even as the Communist Party continues to publicize the efficacy of its own vaccine, and the government of Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, considered pro-China, has doubts about the Chinese vaccine.
The Hindustan Times reports that while the Chinese Communist Party has offered to provide vaccines developed by Beijing-based Sinovac to Nepal, Nepali officials say Oli’s government prefers to get the vaccines from India.
Pradip Gyawali is scheduled to visit New Delhi on 14 May for the 6th Nepal-India Joint Commission meeting with S. Jaishankar. The report said that Gyawali’s visit to India is expected to result in an explicit commitment from New Delhi to supply 12 million doses of vaccines produced in India.
The Indian government on March 3 approved Covishield, a Wuhan pneumonia vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and Bharat Biotech International Limited’s indigenous vaccine Covishield. Production is accelerating and at least two more vaccines are awaiting approval.
Nepal’s ambassador to India, Nilambar Acharya, has held several rounds of meetings with Indian government officials and Indian vaccine manufacturers regarding the supply of vaccines to Nepal, and on May 5 he held a meeting with Bharat Biotech International Executive Director V Krishna Mohan to discuss the supply of vaccines.
In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has increased its influence in Nepal by investing millions of dollars in infrastructure development through the Belt and Road Initiative. The ruling Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) has recently split, and Beijing sent a team to Kathmandu to intervene publicly to persuade Oli to revoke his decision to dissolve the lower house of the parliament, hoping to consolidate the CPN faction and prevent a split in order to maintain the CCP’s influence in Nepal.
As for India, although concerned about Nepal’s political development, it has made it clear that this is an internal Nepalese affair and has adopted a non-interference attitude.
In addition, Nepal and India’s foreign ministers are expected to discuss the issue of the Oli government’s release of new maps incorporating land under sovereignty dispute with India when they hold a bilateral joint committee meeting, in the hope of discussing a solution to the dispute.
An Indian official said that Jivali’s visit to India will revive relations between the two countries, and India also hopes to resume cooperation with Nepal in religious and cultural heritage, and put forward proposals to promote the development of infrastructure around some sites, which will help the bilateral tourism industry.
Recent Comments