EU will continue support to Nepal: Deprez

Kathmandu, Oct. 5

Ambassador of the European Union Delegation to Nepal Nona Deprez has said that the EU would continue to support Nepal in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic while carrying on with its cooperation in development and social areas.

“This is a difficult time and crisis has demanded a stronger international cooperation and alliance to fight against it and keep people safe,” she said in an interaction with  journalists on Monday.

The EU had announced to provide a Rs. 10 billion (75 million Euro) support to stimulate economy and labour demand at the time of COVID-19 crisis. With the pandemic posing greater challenges, we are studying for the prospects of further cooperation, she said.

Deprez said that the EU was likely to enhance the technical assistance as well as other investments.

Nepal and the EU have signed the Financing Agreements on Nepal’s Multi-sector Nutrition Action Plan (about Rs. 3 billion), Provincial and Local Government Support Programme (about Rs. 3.4 billion) and Supporting Nepal’s school sector (about Rs. 2.7 billion).

Ambassador Deprez maintained that  EU and Nepal had sharing better mutual understandings and cooperation in terms of domestic as well as international affairs. “We have no hidden interest in our relations but commitments to democracy, equality and development. Emergency measures, in Europe and elsewhere, should not be used to limit the democratic space and freedoms,” she said.

She also said that the new instrument Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) would be implemented from next year which will realign the priorities and modalities of support and exchanges in the context of global crisis.

According to Deprez, the EU would forge greater cooperation and collaboration with Nepal in climate issues and work together in sustainable policies and development. This is not something that we can or should ignore as it is going to have long-term implications, we must act before its too late, she said.

She said that there should be greater people to people relations between Nepal and the EU. Since EU is one of the major tourist source market for Nepal, greater connectivity would support to increase the number of tourists. “But Nepal should create or improve the tourism infrastructure and implement pollution control measures,” she said.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 6 October 2020.