KATHMANDU, Feb 10: The Embassy of China organized a gala to mark the upcoming Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, in the capital on Friday. This year's Lunar New Year is the year of the dog and is an important festival celebrated by the Chinese. 

The China-Nepal Cross-Border Spring Festival Gala was organized at Hotel Yak and Yeti to mark the festival which will commence from February 16. Various traditional dances were performed by teams from Yunnan province of China as well as Nepalis at the gala. 

Speaking at the program attended by President Bidya Devi Bhandari and ministers and leaders, Deputy Director General of the State Council of Information of China Ling Li said that the Chinese government expects to further strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries while pursuing common development under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). 

He said that China wants to ensure prosperity of citizens of both neighbors by expanding cooperation on various fields under the BRI.  

Similarly, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong congratulated Nepal for holding elections and wished political stability in the country. 

“The year 2017 was a year of remarkable achievements in China-Nepal relations. The MoU for the BRI was signed, the trade between the two countries increased by 11.2 percent whiles the number of Chinese tourists increased by 34 percent. I am confident that the bilateral relations between the two countries will continue to strengthen in the new year,” she said, expressing happiness to get chance to celebrate the Spring Festival with Nepalis. 

She also said that various cultural programs and exhibitions organized by China in Nepal and by Nepal in China in the last few years have helped strength people-to-people relations remarkably. 
Likewise, Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Krishna Prasad Devkota wished a happy new year to all Chinese citizens and said that Nepal wants to welcome as many Chinese tourists as possible in the country. 

He announced that Nepal will celebrate the year 2020 as Visit Nepal Year and the government expects remarkable number of Chinese tourists to visit Nepal. “We are hopeful that the Chinese government will play a constructive role to make the Visit Nepal Year a success,” he said.

 
• china
 
• new year
 
• celebration