Kathmandu, 10 July: Foreign Department Chief of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Liu Jianchao, has arrived here, leading an eight-member delegation. Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi welcomed him at the Tribhuvan International Airport. This is Liu’s first visit to Nepal after his appointment as the Foreign Department Chief. He has arrived on a four-day visit. The Chinese delegation called on the Prime Minister and President of Nepali Congress this afternoon and discussed about promoting bilateral ties including expediting projects under Belt and Road Initiative. It also held a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka at Singha Durbar. Minister Khadka is hosting a dinner in honor of the Chinese guests at Hotel Marriott in the evening. Tomorrow morning, the Chinese delegation will visit the BP Museum at Sundarijal and participate in the programme organized at Shanti Nikunj School in the afternoon. After this programme, a meeting with CPN-Maoist Centre Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been scheduled at Hotel Soaltee where he will host a dinner in honor of the Chinese guests. On the third day of his visit to Nepal, the Chinese Communist Party Foreign Relations Chief will meet CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli at his residence in Balkot in the morning and hold parleys with CPN-Unified Socialist Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal and Senior leader Jhala Nath Khanal at Hotel Everest in New Baneshwor in the afternoon. On the last day of the visit, the Chinese guest team is scheduled to leave for Budhanilkantha Municipality on Wednesday. After meeting former UML district committee chairperson Krishna Rai, the team will have a courtesy meeting with President Bidyadevi Bhandari. After meeting Umesh Sthapit, secretary of the Newa: Mukti Morcha, a sister organization of the CPN-Maoist in Kathmandu, the visiting Chinese team will reach Bhaktapur to inspect various structures reconstructed with the Chinese assistance after the earthquake.The Chinese team will return home after completing its four-day visit to Nepal on Wednesday at 11:15 pm, according to janaaasth.com. This is another high-level visit from neighbouring country China after the visit of the Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in March. Liu’s this visit has been seen as being significant for expanding the long-standing friendly relations between Nepal and China. He had held a virtual meeting with the top leadership of the ruling Nepali Congress and the Maoist Centre, the main opposition party CPN (UML) after his appointment in the Foreign Department.   People's News Monitoring Service