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In April 2019, the Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project in western Nepal—an ambitious irrigation and hydroelectricity scheme—achieved what was then hailed as a historic milestone. Engineers dug a 12-km tunnel using a tunnel-boring machine, a first in Nepal, one year ahead of the original March 2020 deadline. The achievement was celebrated widely, with the Chinese contractor China Overseas…

Only 7% physical progress achieved SINDHULI, Feb 26: The construction of the dam of the Sunkoshi Marin Diversion Multipurpose Project (SMDMP) is progressing at a sluggish pace. Although 42 percent of the project’s construction period has elapsed, the work progress is less than 10 percent. The construction company has struggled to advance the work, blaming the damage caused by floods in…

Chinese Premier Premier Li Keqiang being led down the red carpet by Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta after arriving at Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport on 25 November. Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China

Government press officers have a special idiom to describe the activities of officials when outlining their foreign travels, trying desperately to justify the expense to the taxpayer. It must be worth the cost to attend yet another summit or conference even if it is just an obligatory meet and greet, handshake, smiles and photos sort of an affair.

The red carpet in Bejing must by now be particularly threadbare. A glance at the People’s Republic of China Ministry of Foreign Affairs official website reveals a busy schedule of visiting foreign dignitaries - to be expected, given the growing Chinese foreign direct investment portfolio.

But a visit from Beijing by Premier Li Keqiang to a summit of Central and Eastern European countries in Bucharest in late November provided the perfect opportunity for the region’s leaders to meet the Chinese without having to travel half way around the world.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was frank in his post-summit euphoria. Although Slovakia will not directly participate in the fund that will be created in Luxembourg for the 16 countries of Central and Eastern Europe covered at the Bucharest summit, Bratislava will create a holding fund consisting of EU structural funds and Chinese money that will be used for infrastructure projects.

Fico specifically mentioned a request he put to his Chinese counterpart for a branch of a Chinese bank to be opened in Slovakia, reasoning that such a venture would increase Chinese investors’ trust in the local market. The fund in Luxemburg plus an investment fund created in Warsaw last year come to a total of $10 billion.

The creation of these funds and an agency in Beijing under the auspices of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, dedicated to co-operation with the 16 countries, was perhaps created to avoid mishaps such as the COVEC undertaking in Poland in 2009 which ended with China pulling out of a deal to build a highway linking Warsaw with Lodz.

The promise of a new hydroelectric dam to be funded and perhaps built by the Chinese, and other investment opportunities and associated jobs also announced by the Slovak PM look well-timed for the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for early next year. Nothing is as pleasing to the voter’s ear as promises of monuments to be built, jobs to be had and cheaper energy, pledged by the hopeful candidate as Fico aims to step up to the Presidency in 2014.

Whether or not anything tangible will come of the China-Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) summits, due to be held annually, remains to be seen. But as Fico poignantly pointed out, no leader is above asking for investment: “No matter how strong a premier or president, he or she will always walk down the red carpet in Bejing looking for business opportunities”.