Robust cooperation helps tackle challenges of SAARC: Gyawali

Kathmandu, Sept. 27

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said on Thursday that strong cooperation among member states was required to make SAARC vibrant.

Minister Gyawali made this remark while hosting and chairing the informal meeting of the SAARC Council of Ministers on the sidelines of the 74^th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York.

Addressing the meeting, he said that the effective cooperation at the regional level would help utilise the strengths of the region for changing socio-economic landscape.

“Robust cooperation is required for addressing various challenges facing the region, such as poverty, inequality, underdevelopment, climate change and natural disasters,” he said in the meeting which was attended by Foreign/External Affairs Ministers as well as other delegates of the SAARC member states.

He also highlighted the potentials and prospects of the South Asian region, said the Nepali Mission in New York in its statement.

During the meeting, the Foreign/External Affairs Ministers reviewed the progress made by SAARC in the past one year and stressed the importance of regional cooperation for enhanced trade, investment, connectivity, tourism and culture as well as security, peace and stability.

Likewise, FM Gyawali addressed the annual Ministerial Meeting of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and focused on various structural and other barriers facing the development path of these countries.

He said that the international community should come forward to assist LDCs by ensuring market access, removing tariffs and non-tariff barriers, lifting quantitative restrictions and helping capacity building and technology transfer.

The Minister also attended the annual Ministerial Meeting of the United Nations Group of Friends of Mediation under the theme ‘New Technologies for Peace and Mediation as Tools for Inclusion: Celebrating the 10^th Ministerial Meeting and Looking Ahead’ and shared Nepal’s perspective on the role of new technologies in mediation.

He elaborated that mediators should be equipped with the best tools available for averting violent conflicts. He also added that the ever-evolving technology can certainly provide them with innovative solutions.

Similarly, speaking at the Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, FM Gyawali reaffirmed Nepal’s commitments to the purposes and principles of NAM.

He underscored that cooperation and coexistence are critical for a constructive world order which can only be achieved if the principles of sovereignty and political independence are upheld in good faith by all.

He held separate bilateral meetings with Helen McEntee, Irish Minister of State for European Affairs, and Vladimir Norov, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization of which Nepal is one of the six dialogue partners.

FM Gyawali was scheduled to address the UNGA in the evening on Friday.

Meanwhile, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Minister for Forests and Environment, attended a high-level side-event organized by the newly established Group of Friends of Mountainous Countries of which Nepal is an active member.

Speaking at the meeting, he underlined the urgency of taking collective actions for achieving sustainable mountain development and protecting mountain ecosystems for the good of mountain people as well those billions living downstream.

The Group, which has currently 20 members, is established to promote interests of mountain countries in various UN processes.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 September 2019.