The annual Nepal-China Friendship Seminar convened leading scholars, diplomats, and students from both nations for a day of rigorous dialogue on the evolving landscape of bilateral relations and the future of academic cooperation across the Himalayas.
A Tradition of Scholarly Dialogue
Now in its fourteenth year, the Friendship Seminar has become a cornerstone event in Nepal’s academic calendar. This edition brought together over one hundred and sixty participants — university professors, policy researchers, graduate students, and embassy officials — for panel discussions, keynote addresses, and working-group sessions held at the historic Hotel Yak & Yeti in Kathmandu.
The programme opened with welcoming remarks from the Academy President and the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal, both underscoring the importance of people-to-people exchanges as the bedrock of lasting interstate friendship. Their addresses set a tone of measured optimism, acknowledging challenges while celebrating decades of progress.
Academic cooperation is not a transaction — it is a conversation that deepens with every generation of students who cross the Himalayas to learn and to teach.
Prof. Li Wenhua, Peking University
Key Themes and Panels
- Trans-Himalayan connectivity and its implications for higher-education partnerships
- Preservation of shared cultural heritage along ancient trade routes
- Expanding Mandarin-language instruction in Nepali secondary schools
- Joint research initiatives in geology, climate science, and biodiversity
- Youth entrepreneurship and technology transfer programmes
Afternoon breakout sessions gave emerging researchers a platform to present papers on topics ranging from Lumbini’s archaeological significance in Chinese Buddhist scholarship to digital trade facilitation along the Kerung–Kathmandu corridor. Peer reviewers from Tribhuvan University and Fudan University provided live commentary, fostering real-time academic exchange rare outside formal journal processes.
The seminar concluded with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Nepal China Academy and Sichuan University’s South Asian Studies Centre, establishing a framework for annual faculty exchanges and collaborative fieldwork. Delegates departed with a renewed sense of purpose — and a shared reading list curated by the Academy’s publications committee.