Kathmandu, Muharram 14, 1438, Oct 15, 2016, SPA -- Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday on the sidelines of BRICS Summit in Goa, India, following criticism at home of ignoring relations with China and botching a vist to Nepal by Xi, dpa reported. "The (Chinese) president expressed readiness to visit Nepal at the earliest convenient date," Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a twitter statement right after the 40-minute-long meeting between the two top officials. "They talked about promoting cooperation for development including infrastructure, connectivity, trade and transit," the tweet said. Xi was widely expected to visit Nepal along with Cambodia and Bangladesh en route to the BRICS summit, but he decided to bypass Nepal, citing inadequate preparation, according to Nepali officials. Since coming into office three months ago, the Dahal-led government has put more emphasis on improving relations with India, which had soured following a border blockade of Nepal by New Delhi over internal Nepalese ethnic strife that threatened to cross the border. -- SPA 22:39 LOCAL TIME 19:39 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w