NEW YORK, Oct 2: Nepal has invited the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, to participate in the first episode of the ~ISagarmatha Sambaad~I, Nepal’s international forum on the theme of climate change scheduled for April next year in Kathmandu. 

During a meeting with Guterres at his office in New York on Monday, Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali extended a formal invitation by Prime Minister KP Oli for the event, said Nepal’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York in a statement. 

Asked about Guterres availability to attend the event, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said he needed to check the readout of the meeting to confirm about the secretary general’s availability to the dialogue. “How likely he will join in the event that we will have to see.  We’re waiting to get a readout of the meeting but we are fully aware that Nepal is one of these countries that is on the front lines of dealing with climate change,” Dujarric said on Monday. 

The government is planning to voice its problems on climate change and hear from the other countries in the first dialogue and also discuss the impacts of climate change on the mountains and the role of various stakeholders on the issue with the launch of its international forum. 

Minister Gyawali appreciated the Secretary-General’s reform agenda and reiterated Nepal’s commitment to working together with the UN in the areas of peace, development and prosperity, said the Nepali mission about the meeting. 

“The Secretary-General commended Nepal for its contributions to the UN peace operations as a troops and police-contributing country. He further stated that the UN would continue to support Nepal’s development efforts and the process of institution building,” reads the statement from the mission. 

The Nepali delegation to the UN General Assembly was scheduled to leave for Kathmandu on Tuesday morning New York time.

 
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