In a recent statement highlighting growing cross-regional technological cooperation, Nepal’s top diplomat has thrown his support behind deepening artificial intelligence collaboration with China, framing the partnership as a key catalyst for Nepal’s own technology-focused national development.
Speaking ahead of planned diplomatic engagements focused on bilateral technological exchange, Nepalese Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal praised China’s dramatic, world-leading progress in the global artificial intelligence sector over the past decade. He emphasized that Nepal sees significant untapped potential for mutual benefit in working alongside China to grow its domestic tech ecosystem, rather than pursuing an isolated development path.
Khanal noted that AI-driven innovation could unlock major gains across Nepal’s core economic sectors—from agriculture and tourism to small and medium enterprise development and public service delivery. By partnering with China, a global leader in AI research and commercial AI deployment, Nepal can accelerate its transition to a more digitally advanced, technology-driven economy aligned with its own national development priorities, he added.
The announcement comes as demand for AI capacity-building and partnership grows across low- and middle-income South Asian nations, many of which are looking to integrate emerging digital technologies to boost inclusive growth. China has already expanded a range of technological cooperation initiatives across South Asia through frameworks like the Belt and Road Initiative, opening new opportunities for knowledge sharing, infrastructure development, and joint research in cutting-edge fields including artificial intelligence.