Nepalese Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Ananda Prasad Pokharel said on Wednesday that the government is preparing to bring four Chinese aircraft in accordance with the bilateral agreement between China and Nepal.
As per the bilateral deal signed between state-owned Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) and AVIC International, the state-owned Chinese plane manufacturing company, the former should purchase six aircraft from the company.
Nepal has already purchased two aircraft MA60 and Y-12e which the NAC has already received. But the remaining four planes are yet to be received by the Nepal government.
The government has already made payment for manufacturing the planes through the China Exim Bank,the minister told a seminar on "Aviation Cooperation between Nepal and China" organized by Asia Pacific Daily (APD) of the Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday.
Minsiter Pokharel reaffirmed the commitments of the Nepalese government to purchase the Chinese planes as the agreement between the NAC and AVIC International was signed on Nov. 29, 2012.
Pokharel stressed that China's assistance for the construction of Pokhara Regional International Airport is one of the important aspect of bilateral cooperation in aviation sector.
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai said Chinese leadership has taken the "good neighborhood policy" focusing on sharing technology, experiences and making investment in neighborhood.
Wu said that cooperation between the AVIC International and NAC was a good example of the Chinese policy toward Nepal.
Nepal Airlines Managing Director Sugat Ranta Kansakar said that the NAC has limited planes to fly both domestic and international flights so it decided to purchase the Chinese planes for domestic flights.
He added that the NAC also has plans to have fight service to Chinas major cities including Guangzhou, Shanghai and Kunming in the near future as it currently only has such service to Hong Kong.
The AVIC International Vice-President Xu Bo said that the company was ready to provide all necessary assistance to the Nepal Airlines Corporation for smooth operation of the aircraft.
