KATHMANDU, Oct 6: A team of senior officials led by Minister for Foreign Affairs Prakash Sharan Mahat is leaving for Thailand on Friday to attend the second Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Summit to be held in Bangkok for three days starting Saturday.

 “During the summit, we [Nepal] will focus on promoting connectivity among the Asian countries because people in this part of the world are least connected,” Mahat told a group of journalists on Wednesday. “If a person needs to visit a particular country, sometimes they have to reach the destination via other multiple countries.”

The minister also emphasized the need of improving connectivity in information technology and other sectors as well.

On Saturday, Minister Mahat is scheduled to attend the ACD Foreign Ministers' Working Dinner hosted by Don Pramudwinai, minister of foreign affairs of Thailand. Mahat will also participate in the ACD Connect Business Forum 2016: Innovative Financial Connectivity for a Sustainable Asia on Sunday.

Mahat will address the second ACD Summit which is being held under the theme 'One Asia, Diverse Strengths' on October 10, read a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Thursday. 

The leaders (heads of state/government) of thirty-four ACD member states from Asia are expected to attend the summit. “The summit will consider and adopt three milestone documents, namely Bangkok Declaration, ACD Vision for Asia Cooperation 2030 (ACD Vision 2030) and ACD Statement on Reigniting Growth through Partnership for Connectivity,” added the statement.

Members of the Nepali delegation include Foreign Secretary, Mr Shanker Das Bairagi, Khagnath Adhikari, ambassador of Nepal to the Kingdom of Thailand, Mani Prasad Bhattarai, joint-secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Nepal to the Kingdom of Thailand.

ACD was established in June 2002 with an objective to promote regional cooperation in its priority areas all across Asia. Nepal joined the Asia Cooperation Dialogue as its 34th member in March 2016. The minister is scheduled to return to Kathmandu on October 11.

 
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