Nepali Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said here Wednesday that there exists substantial scope for strengthening cooperation between Nepal and China, and between the Himalayan nation and China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

Nepal made the remarks in his speech delivered at a function hosted by Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The Prime Minister said he was highly impressed by China's "breathtaking" development in the social and economic fields. Air-links, trade and economy, agriculture and animal husbandry are areas where Nepal and China can work more together, said Nepal.

He said, "Tourism is another area where we can cooperate for mutual benefit. We welcome large number of Chinese tourists in Nepal as we are going to celebrate 2011 as Nepal Tourism Year."

The Prime Minister also mentioned that Nepal and China would proceed with "tangible" and "meaningful" cooperation while adopting necessary measures for mitigating the far-reaching impacts of climate change on the fragile Himalayan ecosystem.

"Nepal and China have consistently enjoyed intimate relations based on the five principles of peaceful co-existence," Nepal said with regards to bilateral relations developed after the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1955.

He said the fundamental bedrock of bilateral relations is that Nepal adheres to the one China policy and Nepal's recognition of Taiwan and Tibet as inalienable parts of China. "We have always followed the policy of not allowing the use of our territory against our neighbors."

Nepal arrived in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Saturday afternoon, kicking off a six-day official visit to China since taking office in May. Besides Lhasa, his tour also covers Xi'an, Beijing and Shanghai.