Kathmandu, Jan. 4
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Dr. Narayan Khadka has said that there is a need to ensure the fifth summit of
the Bay of Bengal
Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)
this year to realise the regional aspirations.
In a meeting with Secretary-General
of BIMSTEC Tenzin Lekphell at his office on Tuesday afternoon, he expressed
his hopes that the upcoming summit would provide platforms for important
breakthroughs for greater regional cooperation.
"He underlined the need to
ensure that the fifth summit to be held in 2022 builds on the progress made
thus far and provides important breakthroughs towards realizing the regional
aspirations," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said in a statement.
Stating that the Fourth BIMSTEC
Summit held in Kathmandu was an important milestone in streamlining the areas
of cooperation and institutional strengthening of the organization, the
Secretary-General appreciated Nepal’s contributions in advancing the BIMSTEC
process.
FM Dr. Khadka commended the
Secretary-General for his leadership and expressed Nepal’s commitment to
contribute constructively to help BIMSTEC make further advances.
Both sides assessed the impact
of the COVID-19 pandemic on economies and societies in the region and underlined
the imperative to work in closer cooperation through BIMSTEC framework.
Earlier today, Lekphell paid courtesy
calls on Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Pampha Bhusal, and
Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale.
He also called on Foreign
Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal and Secretary of Commerce and Supplies Dinesh
Bhattarai. Matters such as trade, investment, tourism and people-to-people
contact as well as broader issues of Nepal-BIMSTEC cooperation were discussed
in these meetings.
The Secretary-General is scheduled
to call on President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba
on Wednesday.
Lekphell is on a four-day exploratory
visit to Nepal from 3-6 January, 2022.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 5 January 2022.
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