Pokhara, Oct. 30
United Nations Secretary
General Antonio Guterres has arrived in Pokhara on Monday afternoon. On the
first day of his second trip to the Lake City – and first as the UN Secretary
General, he inspected the Pokhara Valley, Himalayan peaks and Phewa Lake from
Pumdikot
He shared the memories of
his first trip happened in 1978 to Pokhara with Dhanraj Acharya, Mayor of
Pokhara Metropolis. He has also obtained information about the heights of the
mountains visible from Pumdikot from Acharya.
Mayor Acharya said,
"The Secretary General was interested in the heights of all the mountains,
the location and distance of the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) where he is visiting
on Tuesday. He was curious about the Pokhara of yester years, and viewed the
old photos of the city taken by Tony Hagan."
Guterres was welcomed at
the airport by Gandaki Province's Chief Minister Surendra Raj Pandey, Mayor Acharya,
Kaski's Chief District Officer, Basudev Ghimire and others. Pokhara metropolis
welcomed him with a cultural program outside the VIP room of the airport. From
there, he directly reached Fistel Lodge across the Phewa Lake.
He then reached Pumdikot
where he observed the statue of Lord Shiva and Shanti Stupa.
Secretary General
Guterres is scheduled to visit the ABC on Tuesday morning. He will leave for
the base camp in a helicopter at 6:30 in the morning and reach there at 6:50.
There, he will also talk to the public about the impact of climate change on
the lives of ordinary people.
Chairman of Annapurna
Rural Municipality Bishnu Bahadur KC has reached the base camp on Sunday to
prepare for the visit of the Secretary General of the United Nations. ABC is in
Annapurna RM, Ward No 11. Chhomrong Tourism Management Committee has taken over
the management of the event there.
Dilip Gurung, Secretary
of the Committee, said that grand preparations have been made to welcome the UN-SG.
"We are ready to talk to him about climate change and its impacts. There
is excitement here with the visit of a very special guest,” he said.
Guterres will return to
Pokhara airport from at 7:30. He will talke to the journalists in Pokhara at
the airport and leave for Lumbini at 8:30.
Mayor Acharya, said that
this visit has created excitement in Pokhara and the entire Gandaki province.
"Along with the promotion of Pokhara's tourism, the tour will contribute
greatly to its international marketing," he said.
Special preparations have
been made in Pokhara for the reception and security of Secretary General
Guterres. A team of Nepali Army has reached the Annapurna base camp on Friday.
As there is already one helipad, two more helipads have been constructed in the
base camp to facilitate the flight.
Annapurna Rural
Municipality is going to welcome Secretary General Guterres according to the
local Gurung culture, KC said.
'World should learn from
Nepal'
Earlier, speaking at a programme organised by the
United Nations' Nepal Country Team at the UN House in Lalitpur, UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres appreciated Nepal's successful efforts to resolve the conflict
and establish peace on its own.
He also said that the world should learn a lesson from
Nepal's success in establishing the peace after concluding years of conflict.
According to Guterres, Nepal's contribution to the UN
Peacekeeping Operations across the globe is also highly commendable. However,
he expressed concerns to the early conclusion of transitional justice, the
remaining task for the conclusion of peace process.
Pledging the UN's support in achieving the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and asking the UN team to support Nepal in its
development efforts, vising Secretary General also talked about the possible
support to Nepal in its graduation to a developing nation status and mitigation
of climate change impacts.
Speaking on the occasion, Hanaa Singer-Hamdy, UN
Resident Coordinator in Nepal, said that the UN support to Nepal for the
implementation of its constitutional rights and the equitable inclusive
development would be continued.
Climate change affects ecology, community
Meanwhile, according to RSS, Guterres said that ecology
and communities are being dramatically affected by climate change.
He made this statement through a video message from
the base camp of Everest in Solukhumbu following the observation of the
Sagarmatha region this morning. During the visit, he reached Khumbu Pasang
Lhamu Rural Municipality-4 in Solukhumbu district.
He also urged the world community to help prevent
climate change.
"Glaciers are melting at record levels and sea
level is rising. Serious impacts of climate change have been seen here like in
Antarctica and Greenland. We see floods, we see landslides; we see communities
being dramatically impacted. We need to stop this matter," he said.
He said he wants to draw the attention of the world
community to prevent impacts of climate change seen in the ecology and life in
the Himalayan region. "We must make sure that we must limit temperature
rise to 1.5 degrees. Glaciers are retreating. We cannot retreat. We must move
forward on climate action," he said.
Guterres arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday on a four-day
official visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda.
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