KATHMANDU, Aug 8: The Nepal government has asked the Oman government to consider establishing its embassy in Kathmandu. 

Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal made the request in a meeting with high-ranking officials of Oman on Wednesday. 

In the first meeting of the Nepal-Oman Bilateral Consultation Mechanism held in Muscat, Foreign Secretary Lamsal emphasized the need for collaboration in the areas of mutual interest.

During the meeting, the leaders of the delegation reviewed the whole gamut of bilateral relations and expressed satisfaction on the excellent state of relations existing between Nepal and Oman since 1977, informed the Muscat-based Nepali embassy. 

They discussed the bilateral relations and agreed to promote cooperation encompassing all sectors, especially the exchange of high-level visits, trade, investment, economic cooperation, agriculture, energy, tourism, labor and foreign employment, culture, education and direct air connectivity. 

They expressed firm commitment to further enhancing partnership in mutually agreed areas. They agreed to work together toward realizing economic opportunities for mutual benefits apart from creating more opportunities to promote people-to-people engagement.

Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal thanked the Government of Oman for providing employment to more than 21,000 Nepalis and emphasized providing additional opportunities in view of His Majesty’s Oman Vision 2040 strategy.

She stressed the exploration of the untapped potential in economic, cultural and educational areas and proposed establishing meaningful collaborative partnership including with the private sector. 

She further urged the Omani side to explore investment opportunities in Nepal including in hydropower, tourism and collaboration in the green hydrogen sector. 

On the occasion, Undersecretary Sheikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Issa Alharthy expressed willingness to promote the cooperation between Nepal and Oman in all the mutually agreed sectors and hoped to conclude the pending MOUs. 

He underscored the potential of the bilateral relationship and emphasized working together to realize the actual benefits and also mentioned about the positive and hardworking nature of Nepali workers.

Both sides shared views on maintaining the tradition of regular exchange of high-level visits. 

They also expressed commitment to cooperate with each other at various multilateral forums including the United Nations. 

Both sides discussed further enhancing the existing state of excellent relations through diversification of engagements in multiple sectors.

Earlier, Foreign Secretary Lamsal paid a courtesy call on Dr Mahad bin Said bin Ali Baowain, Minister for Labor, the Sultanate of Oman. Matters related to the mutual cooperation including an MoU in the field of labor and human resource exchange, employment opportunity, among others were also discussed.

The Nepal-Oman Bilateral Consultations Mechanism was established in 2017. 

The next meeting of the mechanism will be held in Kathmandu at a mutually-convenient time.

 
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