KATHMANDU, April 7 (Xinhuanet) -- A Chinese team is currently in Nepal to conduct an extensive study and design of a highway that will connect Nepal's capital Kathmandu with China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

    When completed, the highway will be the second important road link between Nepal and China, said a press statement issued by theChinese Embassy to Nepal on Wednesday.

    The proposed highway, which is located in Rasuwa district, some100 km north of Kathmandu, will be 22-kilometer-long and will linkthe Kathmandu-Syabrubesi section with a highway in Ji Long Countyin the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

    "The highway will help improve the local transportation conditions and accelerate economic development in Nepal," the statement said, adding that "it will also strengthen the friendly exchanges, trade, tourism and mutual cooperation between the two neighboring countries."

    Funded by the Chinese government, the project was formally approved during the then Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji's visit to Nepal in May 2001.

    The 19-member study team from the China Tibet Communications, Highway Survey and Design Institute arrived in Kathmandu on April 1 to start the three-month study and design of the Syabrubesi-Kathmandu Highway Project. Enditem