India loses fuel supply monopoly as Nepal signs deal with China
October 29, 2015 12:21
India's strategic establishment was scrambling last evening to counter Nepal's biggest diplomatic swerve away from New Delhi in years after Kathmandu inked a pact to import fuel from Beijing.
The first such deal in four decades was sealed amid a blockade along Nepal's border with Bihar. The agreement, signed by Nepal Oil Corp and Petro China in Beijing today, is being viewed as a message to New Delhi from Nepal that it had given up efforts to ease the blockade and was seeking a bear hug with India's strategic rival, officials in New Delhi said.
China promised gasoline worth $1.3 billion as a grant, beyond which Nepal can buy fuel under the agreement. Nepal has not bought fuel from China for four decades in a bid to pacify India. Read more
The first such deal in four decades was sealed amid a blockade along Nepal's border with Bihar. The agreement, signed by Nepal Oil Corp and Petro China in Beijing today, is being viewed as a message to New Delhi from Nepal that it had given up efforts to ease the blockade and was seeking a bear hug with India's strategic rival, officials in New Delhi said.
China promised gasoline worth $1.3 billion as a grant, beyond which Nepal can buy fuel under the agreement. Nepal has not bought fuel from China for four decades in a bid to pacify India. Read more
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