Experts have stated that Nepal has to get rid of the mindset that it is a ‘yam-state’ and move towards becoming a ‘link-state’ so as to be a dynamic transit for her two big neighbours: India and China.

King Prithivi Narayan Shah, who founded modern Nepal, had famously said Nepal was “a yam between two boulders’— referring to the country’s distinct geographical position.

During an international symposium on ‘Nepal-India-China relations and new development strategies for Nepal’, former foreign minister Prakash Chandra Lohani said Nepal should improve its rail and road connectivity and develop new linkages in the regional and global value supply chain.

Former Indian Ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood observed that the Nepali leadership has to rethink about the ‘yam mindset’ and engage more and more with its neighbours economically.

… Reminding that Nepal actually was a link-state between Tibet and India, Associate Professor of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Pradumna B. Rana said Nepal and countries of South Asia would get economic benefits if Nepal’s infrastructure connectivity with China and India were improved.