Karin’s visit is happening as a result of invitation from Nepal Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, and marks the first ministerial visit from Austria in the last 30 years.

A total of 13 members including five journalists are accompanying the Austrian Minister in her bilateral visit, informed Nepal Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Bharat Raj Paudyal.

As part of the visit, Karin’s team will hold a ministry-level meet with her Nepali counterpart and his team.

Discussions are expected to be majorly on bilateral interests and matters of mutual cooperation that are of regional and international significance.

As part of the visit, Karin is also scheduled to call on Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

She will also be part of a program to be organized by the Institute of Foreign Affairs.

A Quick Glance at Nepal-Austria Ties

Nepal and Austria had good number of discussions on different areas of cooperation in the recent past.

Nepal Tourism Board and Trekking Agents Association of Nepal jointly hosted Alpinmesse Forum in Innsbruck (Austria) during Oct 20-21, 2018, with an aim to introduce Nepal’s adventure tourism to Austria’s populace.

That was Nepali delegation’s first-ever participation in the fair aimed at promoting Nepal’s potential in adventure sports activities.

This program also saw the active participation of Non-Resident Nepalis (NRN) Austria.

Besides, the business fraternity of two sides had also met in November 2017 to sing agreements pertaining to enhancement of business-business, trade and investment cooperation.

Prior to the latest visit, Gyawali and Karin Kneissl had met for bilateral discussions  earlier in September 2018.

2019 marks the 60^th year of establishment of Nepal-Austria bilateral relations.

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The two countries representatives met to discuss several matters concerning Nepal-Austria relations.

Adding further, the Ministry said, “They agreed on the need to intensify bilateral contacts as the two countries would observe the next year as the 60th year of the establishment of their bilateral relations.”

“The two foreign ministers reviewed the status of bilateral cooperation and deliberated on the ways to enhancing such cooperation in areas of trade, investment, tourism, heritage conservation, water management as well as people-to-people contacts,” said a statement issued by Nepal Foreign Ministry.

Nepali Ambassador to Austria Prakash Kumar Subedi, Joint Secretary & Head of Europe-America Division at the Foreign Ministry Ghanshyam Bhandari and Second Secretary at Vienna’s Nepal Embassy were also present at the meeting.

Past Pacts:
In 2017, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber had signed an agreement, which focused on enhancing private sector collaboration for the promotion of trade, commerce and technology transfer between Nepal and Austria.

Nepal and Austria established diplomatic relations on August 15, 1959. Since then Austria has provided financial assistance for various Nepal development projects including Namche Small Hydro Electric Project, Keshar Mahal Garden of Dreams and Rolwaling eco-tourism.

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