Nepal, UK hold bilateral consultation mechanism meeting

KATHMANDU: The 6th meeting of the Nepal-United Kingdom Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) was held in London on Wednesday.

According to a statement issued by the Embassy of Nepal in London, the two sides reviewed the overall state of the Nepal-UK relationship and deliberated on enhancing the engagements in various areas of mutual interest.

“The delegations exchanged views on over two centuries-old friendship and cooperation and took stock of the progress made in major aspects of the bilateral relations, including development cooperation and priorities, trade, investment and tourism, education and human resource development, consular matters and people-to-people linkages, the British Gurkha issues, climate change, and sustainable development as well as working together on agendas of mutual interest in multilateral forums,” the embassy said in the statement.

Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal and Permanent Under-Secretary at Foreign, Common Wealth and Development Office, Sir Philip Barton, led their respective sides in the meeting.

Likewise, the meeting reviewed the ongoing talks on Ex-Gurkha issues and agreed to continue discussion towards addressing the grievances.

In the meeting, the UK side highlighted the changing shape of the UK’s development cooperation portfolio and shared the priority areas of future cooperation with Nepal that would include support in the transition to middle-income country and progress towards sustainable development goals, help in mobilizing investment and climate finance, support in expanding access to education, in particular girls’ education.

In response, the Nepali side appreciated the valuable development cooperation provided by the United Kingdom as one of the largest development partners and emphasized the need for continuity and enhancement of such support at a critical time of graduation from the least developed country status.

According to the statement, the two sides agreed to work towards further consolidating and widening cooperation and engagements in productive sectors such as trade, investment, energy and tourism.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Foreign Secretary Paudyal and the Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Barton, had a productive discussion on a range of topics including marking the centenary of the Friendship Treaty, exchange of high-level visits, and bilateral cooperation, among other matters, according to the statement.