KATHMANDU, Sept 21: Speaker Devraj Ghimire, who is on an Ireland visit, held a meeting with his Irish counterpart on Wednesday night.

Speaker Ghimire is currently in Ireland in connection with an official visit at the invitation of Speaker of Dail Eireann, the Lower House of Parliament of Ireland, Sean O' Fearghail. He had left here on Sunday for a week-long visit to Ireland.

On the occasion, they discussed different matters including parliamentary exchanges between lawmakers of both countries and bilateral cooperation, said Speaker Ghimire's Chief Personal Secretary, Tej Prakash Bhattarai.

Nepal and Ireland have been enjoying diplomatic relations since August 19, 1999. There have been high-level visits between the two countries in the past.

On the occasion, Speaker Ghimire expressed the belief that a high-level visit would further strengthen mutual understanding, harmony and relations between the two countries. 

He shared, "There is a role of our parliament and parliamentarians to strengthen relations between the two countries. Rights of our citizens can be ensured by advancing parliamentary democracy through the exchange of mutual experiences of parliamentary practices."

Sharing that election of all three levels were conducted twice after promulgation of new constitution in Nepal, Speaker Ghimire mentioned that many laws have already been made and the parliament has been working to formulate some new laws to implement fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution.

He further said friendship groups are in the phase of formation in the federal parliament of Nepal, stating that Nepal-Ireland Friendship Group would be formed to establish relations with Ireland and such groups would continuously forward dialogue and collaboration among parliamentarians of the two countries.

The Speaker expressed the view that Nepal and Ireland could collaborate on global common agendas as climate change and its impacts in multilateral forums like the United Nations and Inter-Legislative Association.

Similarly, Speaker Fearghail recalled the warm welcome he got during his Nepal visit in 2019. 

Sharing that Parliamentary-friendship group between Ireland and Nepal has already been formed in Ireland, he stressed on exchange of parliamentary practice. He said his country has been providing scholarships to 160 students of Africa every year, adding Nepal could be included through an Irish grant.

Speaker Fearghail further shared that number of Nepali students is increasing in Ireland and expressed commitment to take initiative to resolve problems surfaced in their education and housing arrangements.

He also pointed out the possibility of exchange of agriculture and food technology between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Speaker Ghimire held meeting with Irish Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritages, Darragh O'Brien, on Wednesday.  

(RSS)

 
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