Kathmandu, Jan 30: US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, said that the US wants Nepal to take sovereign decision on the issues of its national interests.
At a press conference organised here on Monday, the US Under-Secretary, who arrived here on Sunday on a two-day Visit, shared that the US wants to make its collaboration and strong economic relation in Nepal, mentioning that the US would welcome Nepal’s friendly relations with its neigbhouring countries.
On the occasion, she informed that various issues of bilateral interests were discussed during the meeting with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN (UML) Chair KP Sharma Oli and Foreign Minister Dr Bimala Rai Poudel.
Similarly, discussions were held on the issues including next step of the implementation of MCC, transitional justice process, and building environment to increase US investment in Nepal, mentioned the US Under-Secretary Nuland.
Saying that the US has been supporting and collaborating for Nepal’s education, health, agriculture, tourism and economic sectors as well as strengthening democracy, she expressed the view that she felt proud to inform about the US support in Nepal’s green energy, electrification, small and middle-scale women enterprises for next five years.
“The United States wants to have good relations with both of Nepal’s big neighbors – India and China,” she told journalists in Patan on Monday.
“Our relationship with India is perfect. And President Joe Biden’s administration is trying to improve relations with China, Nepal’s neighbor,” she said.
“I specifically talked about four issues such as strengthening democracy, Nepal-US partnership, supporting Nepal’s prosperity, and transitional justice,” she said.
Nuland said all US projects and engagements, including the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Nepal, are transparent and their implementation is vital for the benefit of the Nepali people.
Similarly, she added that she also discussed the transitional justice bill, creating a friendly environment for American investment in Nepal, among others, in those meetings.
“Quite a significant number of Americans are willing to invest in Nepal. We also discussed how to create an investment-friendly environment for them,” she said.
Nuland also said that she discussed with Nepali leaders making the fight against corruption effective.
“The fight against corruption is equally important in Nepal as well as America. We talked about how we can cooperate on that,” she said.
Stating that Nepal and America are both democratic countries, the relationship between the two countries will further strengthen in the future.
She visited different cultural heritages located at Patan Durbar Square of Lalitpur on Monday.
