PM to address BIMSTEC summit on March 30

Kathmandu, Mar. 25

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will virtually address the Fifth Summit of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) to be held in Sri Lanka on March 30.

The Nepali delegation led by the Prime Minister will include Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Narayan Khadka, Principal Personal Secretary to the Prime Minister Bhan Bahadur Deuba, Chief Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi, Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal and senior officials from Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

FM Dr. Khadka will participate in-person in the Eighteenth BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on March 29, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in a statement on Friday.

Dr. Khadka is flying to Colombo on March 28.

On the sidelines, he will also hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from BIMSTEC member states.

Similarly, the Nepali delegation led by Ghanshyam Bhandari, Joint Secretary and Head of Regional Organisation Division at the Ministry, will participate in the Twenty-Second BIMSTEC Senior Officials’ Meeting physically on March 28.

The Fifth BIMSTEC Summit and its preceding meetings are being held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on March 28-30 in a hybrid mode. The theme of the Summit this year is ‘BIMSTEC – Towards a Resilient Region, Prosperous Economies, Healthy Peoples’.

FM Khadka will return to Kathmandu on March 31.

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Khadka addressed the Ministerial Meeting of the Champion Countries of the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) held today in Rabat, Morocco, in hybrid format, said the ministry.

In his pre-recorded address, he underlined Nepal’s commitment to GCM and highlighted that partnership and cooperation with sending and destination countries, regional consultative groups and other entities are indispensable to maximising migration's contribution to securing mutual development benefits.

Minister Dr. Khadka said that Nepal looks forward to working with the international community for the realisation of the vision of safe, orderly, and regular migration.

   Published in The Rising Nepal dialy on 26 March 2022.