KATHMANDU: The third edition of Nepal-Switzerland bilateral consultations was held in Kathmandu on Monday.
Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal made opening remarks in the meeting, which was co-chaired by Ministry’s Joint-Secretary Nirmal Raj Kafle and Assistant State Secretary for Asia-Pacific in the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) Andreas Raphael Nageli.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the two sides exchanged views on matters of common interest, including the bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries, regional cooperation, cooperation within the multilateral frameworks and global issues such as climate change, migration, and human rights.
“The discussions also covered Nepal’s graduation from the least developed country status in 2026, Covid-19 related support as well as meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.
The two sides reviewed all aspects of bilateral relations and discussed the possibilities of enhancing engagement in the areas of trade, investment and tourism,” the Ministry said.
According to the Ministry, the Nepali delegation included officials from stakeholder ministries while the Swiss delegation included the Ambassador of Switzerland to Nepal and officials from FDFA, the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development and the Swiss Embassy in Kathmandu.
The mechanism of Bilateral Consultations was established in 2015 between the two Foreign Ministries. The previous meeting of the mechanism was held in June 2018.
The Nepali side thanked the Swiss government for the longstanding cooperation to Nepal as a priority country and stated that such cooperation will be vital in moving the country forward along the path of economic recovery, green growth and sustainable graduation from the LDC status.
