Monday, November 25, 2019

Nepal, Russia eye strong economic partnership

Nepal and Russia underlined the need of building a strong economic partnership commensurate with the bond of friendship they have been cherishing since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1956.
They – during the meeting between visiting foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and his counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow today – also agreed to explore ways and means for enhancing economic and trade relations for mutual benefit. Through his Russian counterpart, Gyawali encouraged Russian entrepreneurs to invest in Nepal in view of an investment-friendly environment.
According to a press note issued by the Foreign Ministry, the two leaders – on the occasion – also shared their perspectives on important global agendas, including maintenance of international peace and security, disarmament and peacekeeping. They – reads the press note – expressed their commitment to multilateralism and the centrality of the United Nations (UN) to deal with international issues.
During the bilateral meeting – held in a cordial atmosphere – the two ministers exchanged views on various aspects of bilateral relations and importance of the exchange of high-level visits, including the judicial, parliamentary and business exchanges.
Minister Gyawali, on the occasion, handed over the invitation of President Mrs Bidhya Devi Bhandari to the President of the Russian Federation to pay a state visit to Nepal, apart from invitation of the Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
During the visit – in the gap of 14 years since the last visit from the Nepali side – the ministers also  agreed to harness the immense potentials to enlarge the scope and enrich the substance of the bilateral cooperation especially in the areas of investment, trade, tourism, education, energy, infrastructure development, and culture and people-to-people relations.
Inviting Lavrov to participate in the Sagarmatha Sambaad to be held in Kathmandu in April 2020, Gyawali also asked Russian investors to invest in Nepal as the country has huge potentials to develop organic agro-products such as tea, coffee, ginger, cardamom, which can be exported to Russia.
Nepal is currently a ‘dialogue partner’ of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) since 2015 and hopes to connect with the Central Asia and beyond through its framework of cooperation. The Russian Federation – as the Organisation’s founding member – on the occasion expressed its readiness to extend cooperation within the scope of the organisation, reads the press note.”The framework for the deeper engagement of Nepal with SCO is wide and Nepal believes that the partnership can be upgrade to a full membership.”

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