Speech by Honourable Mr. Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Minister for Foreign Affairs at the reception organized by His Excellency Ambassador of Nepal to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.
Yangon, 19 October 2019
The Rt. Honourable President,
Excellencies,
Friends from Media,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Namaste and Good Evening !
I wish to begin by thanking ambassador Udas and the Embassy family for hosting this reception in honour of the Rt. Hon’ble President Mrs. Bidya Devi Bhandari.
Let me covey to you warm greetings and best wishes from Rt. Hon’ble President, the government and people of Nepal, the land of Buddha and Sagarmatha.
We are delighted to have this wonderful opportunity to meet with Hon’ble Union Ministers, Provincial ministers, Mayors and representatives of other local authorities of the Union of Myanmar and the distinguished diplomatic community representing many governments around the world. We are equally delighted to meet with people from different walks of life , business community, faith organizations, media, members of Nepali community and of course, the friends and well-wishers of Nepal.
Thank you for your kind presence here this evening. We have taken this as your love and good will towards Nepal and Nepali people.
Nepal and Myanmar established formal diplomatic relationship in March, 1960. But the people to people to relationship has continued from hundreds of years. Nepal and Myanmar enjoy excellent bilateral relations which are not confined to official level, relations at the level of people are quite strong.
The Right Honourable President of Nepal Mrs. Bidhya Devi Bhandri is on a state visit to this great friendly country at the invitation of His Excellency U Win Myint, the President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. This is the first ever visit by the president of Nepal to Myanmar and by a Nepali Head of State in nearly four decades.
Rt. Hon’ble President of Nepal and His Excellency the President of Myanmar had fruitful discussions on further expanding and consolidating Nepal Myanmar relations that are age old and multi-dimensional. The Rt. Hon’ble President also had substantive discussions with Her Excellency the State Counsellor, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi that covered important aspects of Nepal Myanmar relations. In the course of past one year both countries have signed important bilateral instruments in the fields of trade and investment, tourism and culture.
Nepal’s foreign policy is guided by the principles of Panchaseel, charter of the United Nations, NAM and international law and norms of world peace. We have steadfast commitment to a rule based order. The overarching theme of Nepal’s foreign policy is “amity with all and enmity with none”.
The present government is committed to strengthening ties with neighbour as well as all other friendly countries in the world on the basis of the principles of sovereign equality, mutual respect and benefit. Regional cooperation is an important component of our foreign policy. We believe in multilateralism with United Nations at the center of global affairs.
Our diplomatic engagements have significantly increased recently resulting in substantial enhancement of cooperation with neighbours and other partners. Most recently, the President of China visited Nepal. The visit has been highly successful in elevating Nepal China relations to new height. We are expecting other high level visits in the near future.
I am pleased to inform you the Government of Nepal is hosting “Sagarmatha Sambad” (Everest Dialogue) in April 2020 in Kathmandu to galvanize international efforts to address the adverse impacts of climate change. We all are aware that the mountainous countries, small island developing states and countries with low lying coastal lands are among those hit hardest by the climate change which has assumed crisis proportion. We would expect participations from various countries including the countries you represent here.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you are aware that Nepal has undergone transformation of historic proportions. We have settled all political issues that we confronted for the last seventy years through the promulgation of a highly democratic and inclusive constitutions. The general elections held in 2017 produced a majority government thereby ending the cycle of political instability. We have achieved much needed political stability today.
Women are guaranteed 33% seats in the Federal and Provincial parliaments and 40% at the local level. Following the 2017, historic elections, the representation stands at 41% in all elected bodies. This is a major achievement in ensuring inclusive governance in the country.
Our focus today is on socio-economic transformation. “Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali” is our national aspiration and our development activities are guided by this aspiration. We aspire to become a middle income country and attain Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. We look forward to your continued support and cooperation in our efforts to realize these goals.
We are organizing visit Nepal 2020 next year to give tourism development a qualitative boost. We appeal to you to visit Nepal next year. Nepal has to offer many things both in terms of both nature and culture.
Lumbini is the birthplace of Gautam Buddha and the fountain of Buddhism. We look forward to receiving support and cooperation from friendly countries in our effort to develop it as a centre of world peace and learning. It is a common heritage of mankind which has enormous values for world peace and harmony.
In this respect, I would also like to inform that a new international airport in Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Budhdha, is on the verge of completion and will come into operation early next year. Excellencies, we have proposed to organize the United Nations International Day of Vesak in 2021 in Lumbini.
Let me conclude by saying I look forward to continuing an open and regular dialogue with you all about issues pertinent to your home country and to Nepal, via our mission stationed here and my ministry as well. As to my Myanmar brothers and sisters, I would like to express my gratitude for the warm hospitality extended to us. We are returning to our homeland with beautiful indelible memories and goodwill of people of Myanmar. With our shared values and common outlook, I have every confidence we will remain close partners and friends.
Thank You.