国内英语新闻:China, Nepal agree on wider cooperation

BEIJING, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- The consensus was reached between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and visiting Nepalese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa in their talks.

Invited by Wang, Thapa is on an official China visit from Dec. 24-29.

They exchanged views on bilateral cooperation, and maintaining high-level exchanges and cooperation in various fields including cross-border trade, cultural exchanges and tourism.

Both countries agreed to speed up work disrupted by the earthquake on highways linking the two countries, according to a press release after the talks.

China will import more goods from Nepal and help the country to enhance its capability to develop on its own. They also vowed to cement capacity cooperation.

Both countries agreed to discuss facilitating petroleum and gas cooperation for the long run in order to address the Himalayan country's shortage of energy.

Thapa told a press briefing that Nepal was grateful to China's supply of 1,000 metric tons of petrol at the time of acute shortage of fuel.

The two countries also pledged to boost tourism cooperation as China canceled security alert for citizens travelling to Nepal and Nepal announced to waive visa application fees for Chinese tourists.