KATHMANDU, Oct 2:  "Education that cultivates culture of peace and tolerance while inspiring innovation and invention is the answer to the dilemmas that the world faces today," Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said in his address at the UN University for Peace in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Oli was conferred with an honorary doctorate degree at the university. Delivering his speech, Prime Minister said that education was the key to ensure peace, stability and bolster development across the world.

While Oli dwelt on a range of issues, at the heart of his speech was education that inculcated tolerance and compassion, respected diversity and accommodated differences while unleashing the "infinite potential of human mind to answer to the problems (that) humanity faces today."

In turn, he said that countries needed to invest more into education and "identify the willing minds" so that youths would be able to capitalize their potentials to strengthen global peace. "Young people are the custodians of peace and their contribution and stake in consolidating peace is paramount," he said.

Expressing concerns of increasing civil wars and conflicts that have rendered many homeless and refugees across the world, Oli said that peace would prevail when societies accepted that "diversity was inherent in nature" and people had to respect the "diversity and pluralistic nature of human society" for peace.   Oli said that greed, ignorance and attitude o violence are breeding grounds to stem "wars and human tragedies. For this reason, foundation of peace should be built in the minds of people."  

He highlighted Nepal's armed conflicts, peace processes and the political transformations could be a successful case story for the world and to learn. He argued that in pursuit of democracy, Nepal's leaders exhibited perseverance and indomitable courage. "(We) never relented, bowed and gave up our conscience," Oli said as he expressed Nepal's commitment to see a just and peaceful world where everyone had sufficient opportunities to learn, grow and contribute to protect human rights and aid development.

Climate change is a concern

Oli said that human actions had fastened climate change across the world. However, "our response do not match the enormous challenges that are the result of (our) recklessness." He also said that it was unjust for countries that contributed negligible emissions had to bear heavy price of climate change. As human beings were one of the species that shared the world with other animals, the present generation needed to be accountable and responsibly "hand over a habitable planet to the future generations." 

To solve existing global problems, Oli said that the world needed to come together, "more than ever, to reassert its faith in multilateralism and collective solutions."

 
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