A large people-to-people cultural friendship delegation group comprising of writers, poets, artists, composers and businessmen in Nepal have left for Lhasa on Tuesday.

At the invitation of International Chinese Writers' Association, Cultural Ministry of China and Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the 53-member cultural delegation headed by Ram Babu Subedi, vice president of Pestalozzi World, Nepal was to pay a visit to China for two weeks.

During the visit, the delegation will visit some cultural and historical sites in China, and meet with some famous Chinese experts and writers. It is also about to hold face-to-face interaction with other concerned sector.

The visit of the delegation coordinated by World Culture Net ( WCN) aimed of cultural exchange, starting their visit from Lhasa, will carry on to Beijing, Shanghai and will be back to Nepal via Hong Kong on July 1, according to WCN-Nepal Center for International Exchange.

"We hope this visit will prove to be a milestone to strengthen the socio-cultural relation between two countries. Nepalese people, we hope, will be provided with new ideas and concepts through this visit of the renowned personalities in their respective field," said the editorial board of the delegation.

According to the board, for the last few years, the visit programs in public level too are quite common in both countries. Such programs include political, cultural and ordinary visits by citizens of both countries. It is not limited to Diplomatic relations, but further extended to cultural, religious, business- related and social level.

Chinese Ambassador to Nepal, Qiu Guohong on the occasion said that Nepal and China are linked by mountains and rivers with close cultural interaction and rising cooperation in trade and tourism.

In his message to delegation's goodwill visit he said, "The people-to-people contact and cultural exchanges have been playing significant role in strengthening and consolidating the friendship between two countries," adding that friendly exchanges between two countries have long history.

"I believe, through the visit, a new bridge will be built up for promoting mutual understanding and friendly relations in the continuous development of bilateral relations including people's exchanges," Qiu said in his message to the delegation.

(Xinhua News Agency June 16, 2009)