Austrian Minister pledges support in energy-mix

Kathmandu, Feb. 22: Visiting Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs of Austria Dr. Karin Kneissl on Friday said that her country would enhance business relations with Nepal in investment and support it in energy-mix.

Austrian investors are interested to come to Nepal and soon there will be some progress in this area, she said at a join-press meet with Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali organised following the bilateral meeting between the delegations of the two countries in the Capital.

She said that both the countries always promoted effective multilateralism exhibited in the issues like the international peacekeeping exercise.

"We have very long good relations and we will continue to support Nepal in the preservation of its cultural heritages and promotion of art and culture. There will be a first ever exhibition of Nepali contemporary art in Vienna," said Kneissl.

Austria is supporting Nepal in the reconstruction of some of the monuments at the Patan Durbar Square.

She expressed here commitment to participate in the Nepal Investment Summit slated on 29 and 30 March and support in Visit Nepal 2020 campaign.

FM Gyawali appreciated Austria for its role in the multilateral forums especially in terms of the issues of the landlocked least developed countries (LLDCs).

"Notwithstanding the geographical distance, our two countries have worked together at bilateral and multilateral levels in the issus of mutual interest. We have been working together to further strengthen our bilateral relations and build on the cooperation and collaboration at the multilateral forums," he said.

In a meeting with Minister Kneissl, Gyawali shared the government's plan to host the Investment Summit and also discussed the possibility of cooperation in observing Visit Nepal Year 2020.

The bilateral meeting also reviewed the status of Nepali-Austria relations and explored ways to further strengthen our bilateral cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, technology transfer, sustainable development, environmental protection, clean energy and counter terrorism.

Later in the evening, speaking at a talk programme on '60 years of Nepal-Austria partnership: Energy, regional and global trends' organised by the Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Friday, Kneissl suggested not to follow the recipe tendered by any expert or country but to make own case studies and learn by doing since one thing that works for one might not work for the other.

She said that neutrality that Austria exercises in its foreign policy wass non-interference in the affairs of other countries and its different than what had been applied by Switzerland.

Commenting on tourism development, she said that eco-tourism was better than going to the cheap mass-based tourism. "It is quality tourism with lots of respect to nature," she said.  

Kneissl called on Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in the afternoon.

This year, the two countries are observing the 60^th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 23, February 2019.