Kathmandu, Oct 27: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to arrive Kathmandu on October 29 in course of his four-day visit to Nepal. Secretary-General Guterres is travelling to Nepal at the cordial invitation of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’.
PM Dahal had extended invitation to the UN Secretary-General while attending the 78th sessions of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) held on last September and the United Nations Food Summit held in Rome, Italy on last July. PM Dahal’s press advisor Govinda Acharya informed that the UN Secretary-General whose visit was initially set for October 13-15 was postponed due to the Hamas militants attack on Israel and is re-scheduled to embark the visit from October 29.
He further shared that matters relating to take Nepal’s ongoing peace process to conclusion and establishing sustainable peace in the country would receive priority during his visit. Likewise, climate change, sustainable development and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) agendas will get spotlight on the occasion. It may be noted that Guterres had visited Nepal before in 2007 in the capacity of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Giterres who is serving the United Nations as the secretary-general for second term since 2017 as a successor of Secretary-General Ban-Ki moon. According to the United Nations, former General-Secretaries, Dr Kurt Waldheim, Javier Perez de Cuellar and Ban-Ki moon had visited Nepal previously. Guiterres, 74, who had served Portugal as the Prime Minister from 1995 to 2002 is known as an experienced politician and diplomat.
He was also the Chairperson of Socialist International from 1999 to 2005. In course of his official visit, the Secretary-General is set to pay courtesy call on President Ramchandra Paudel and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Likewise, he will also meet with the leaders of major political parties, including Nepali Congress President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-UML Chairperson and former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Secretary-General Guterres is scheduled to address a joint session of the federal parliament at 4.00 pm on October 31 (Tuesday).
During his four day visit, the Secretary-General is scheduled to visit the Patan Durbar Square, Pokhara, Annapurna Base Camp and Lumbini. RSS
