Kathmandu,
Sept. 27
Minister
for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said on Thursday that strong
cooperation among member states was required to make SAARC vibrant.
Minister
Gyawali made this remark while hosting and chairing the informal meeting of the
SAARC Council of Ministers on the sidelines of the 74th General
Assembly of the United Nations in New York.
Addressing
the meeting, he said that the effective cooperation at the regional level would
help utilise the strengths of the region for changing socio-economic landscape.
“Robust
cooperation is required for addressing various challenges facing the region,
such as poverty, inequality, underdevelopment, climate change and natural
disasters,” he said in the meeting which was attended by Foreign/External
Affairs Ministers as well as other delegates of the SAARC member states.
He also
highlighted the potentials and prospects of the South Asian region, said the
Nepali Mission in New York in its statement.
During
the meeting, the Foreign/External Affairs Ministers reviewed the progress made
by SAARC in the past one year and stressed the importance of regional
cooperation for enhanced trade, investment, connectivity, tourism and culture
as well as security, peace and stability.
Likewise, FM Gyawali addressed
the annual Ministerial Meeting of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and
focused on various structural and other barriers facing the development path of
these countries.
He said that the international
community should come forward to assist LDCs by ensuring market access,
removing tariffs and non-tariff barriers, lifting quantitative restrictions and
helping capacity building and technology transfer.
The Minister also attended the
annual Ministerial Meeting of the United Nations Group of Friends of Mediation
under the theme ‘New Technologies for Peace and Mediation as Tools for
Inclusion: Celebrating the 10th Ministerial Meeting and Looking
Ahead’ and shared Nepal’s perspective on the role of new technologies in
mediation.
He elaborated that mediators
should be equipped with the best tools
available for averting violent conflicts. He also added that the ever-evolving
technology can certainly provide them with innovative solutions.
Similarly, speaking at the Ministerial
Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, FM Gyawali reaffirmed Nepal’s commitments
to the purposes and principles of NAM.
He underscored that cooperation
and coexistence are critical for a constructive world order which can only be
achieved if the principles of sovereignty and political independence are upheld
in good faith by all.
He held separate bilateral
meetings with Helen McEntee, Irish Minister of State for European Affairs, and Vladimir
Norov, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization of which
Nepal is one of the six dialogue partners.
FM Gyawali was scheduled to
address the UNGA in the evening on Friday.
Meanwhile, Shakti Bahadur Basnet,
Minister for Forests and Environment, attended a high-level side-event
organized by the newly established Group of Friends of Mountainous Countries of
which Nepal is an active member.
Speaking at the meeting, he
underlined the urgency of taking collective actions for achieving sustainable
mountain development and protecting mountain ecosystems for the good of
mountain people as well those billions living downstream.
The Group, which has currently 20
members, is established to promote interests of mountain countries in various
UN processes.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 September 2019. 
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