An eight-member government delegation left for Beijing on Monday to open Nepal’s first oil trade negotiations with the northern neighbour amid severe fuel shortages that have started to cause widespread disruption to every-day life and brought the economy virtually to a standstill. For the first time in four decades, Nepal has moved ahead to include China as its second oil trade partner as an alternative source to cope with such a crisis in the future.
India imposed an unofficial trade embargo, curtailing fuel supply to Nepal by as much as 90 percent. Over a month has passed but there are no signs of the crisis ending soon. Nepal has been dependent on the Indian Oil Corporation for its fuel needs. The team led by Nepali Ambassador to China Mahesh Maskey, including officials from Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Supplies and Finance ministries and Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), is scheduled to hold negotiations with China this week. “The team has been mandated to negotiate the price, quantity, quality and other technical details of petroleum products to be procured from China,” said Minister for Commerce and Supplies Ganesh Man Pun.
