Gyawali invites Guterres

Kathmandu, Oct. 1

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali had a meeting with Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres at the latter's office in New York on Monday.

During the meeting, views to further strengthen cooperation between Nepal and the UN were exchanged, said Nepali Mission in New York.

Gyawali appreciated the Secretary-General's reform agenda and reiterated Nepal's commitment to working together with the UN in the areas of peace, development and prosperity.

He extended Prime Minster K P Sharma Oli’s formal invitation to Guterres to participate in the first episode of the Sagarmatha Sambaad to be held in April 2020 in Kathmandu around the theme of climate change.  

FM Gyawali, who is in New York to participate in the 74^th United Nationals General Assembly (UNGA), had also informed the assembly about the government’s decision to convene global dialogue to deliberate on critical issues facing the world, including the climate change.

The Secretary-General commended Nepal for its contributions to the UN peace operations as a troops and police contributing country. He further stated that the UN would continue to support Nepal's development efforts and the process of institution building.

Later in the afternoon, FM Gyawali visited the Consulate General of Nepal in New York.  He advised the Consulate General staff to work hard in promoting Nepal's economic diplomacy with particular focus on trade, investment, technology and tourism linkages.

He also interacted with the representatives of Non-Resident Nepalese Association in the evening.

He underlined the role of NRNs in Nepal's socio-economic development and urged them to contribute in all possible ways to the country's goal of development and prosperity.

FM Gyawali, in his address to the UNGA, highlighted the plight of the vulnerable countries and said that they were hit the hardest by the impact of climate change despite their negligible emissions.

He said that the vulnerable countries are facing the consequences which were not just disproportionate but also unjust and undue.

He expressed Nepal’s abiding trust in multilateralism, adding that ‘only alternative to it is a better, effective, inclusive and responsive multilateralism’.

FM Gyawali shared Nepal’s principled positions on peace, security, disarmament, sustainable development, human rights among others. He also underlined Nepal’s belief in peaceful settlement of conflicts and disputes through negotiations and dialogues, and without external interferences. 

Likewise, addressing the informal Ministerial Meeting of Asia cooperation Dialogue (ACD) on the same day, the Foreign Minister stressed on a pan-Asian cooperation for common benefit saying that the region could benefit immensely from the cooperation.

Upon completion of the visit, FM Gyawali and his delegation are scheduled to leave for Kathmandu on Tuesday.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 2 October 2019.