KATHMANDU, March 29: A total of 2,380 imported automobiles and trucks loaded with imported goods have remained stranded at the Birgunj Dry Port after the importers were reluctant for customs clearance, citing the low demand at present.
KATHMANDU (THE KATHMANDU POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Last week, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Lekh Raj Bhatta in a public statement declared that the time had come to seriously reconsider whether Nepal should at all trade with China.
He was reacting to an undeclared blockade-like situation enforced by China on imports of Chinese goods into Nepal. Trade across the land border has almost entirely stopped, right since the outbreak of Covid-19 a year ago.
It is perhaps for the first time in the seven decade-long Nepal-China diplomatic relations that any incumbent minister has lambasted China so openly for the latter s imperviousness to facilitate cross-border trade.