The MoU was signed to enable the establishment of a bilateral consultation mechanism between both countries’ foreign ministers. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal – Europe and America Division Joint Secretary Nirmal Raj Kafle and Norway Ambassador to Nepal Lasse Bjørn Johannessen signed the MoU on behalf of Nepal and Norway.

This paves way for both countries to exchange views on the overall aspects of bilateral relations on a regular basis.

Before the two sides signed the MoU, Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and Norway International Development Minister Dag Inge Ulstein met at the Nepal Foreign Ministry.

The two sides held discussions on bilateral talks with a primary focus on bilateral cooperation for energy, investment and trade.

The signing event was witnessed by Norwegian delegates and officials from the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Kathmandu and senior officials of the Nepal Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Germany Provides Grant Aid Worth NPR 1.5 Bn to Nepal

Meanwhile, German Ambassador to Nepal Roland Schaefer met with Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Barsha Man Pun on Monday.

Minister Pun took the opportunity to extend his gratitude to the German Government for its noteworthy support in areas of alternative energy, energy and transmission line.

“Reinstating that solar and mini-grid are in the priority of the government. The government aims to hike the  public access  to clean energy through renewable energy  and make it 12 percent in the coming three years,” said Pun.

He said that the German Government’s support would greatly boost the Nepal Government’s plan to provide electricity to all Nepalis.

Ambassador Sheifer shared that the German Government has decided to offer support worth NPR 1.5 billion to Nepal for materializing its vision.

Nepal has signed MoUs with countries including Georgia, USA, Japan, India, Mauritius, Myanmar, Singapore, China and Qatar throughout 2019 for cooperation in various sectors.

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In the meeting, the two representatives thoroughly reviewed the status of Nepal’s India-funded ongoing projects including cross-border railways, inland water ways, post-earthquake reconstruction, Arun III project, Pancheshwor multipurpose project and Upper Karnali project.

The two foreign secretaries also spoke about issues including terrorism and the pending SAARC process.

This meeting is being held with the objective of ensuring smooth execution of old and new agreements between Nepal and India.

It will also review the work progress made during the meetings of the Nepal-India Oversight Mechanism.

In the past, Nepal-India representatives have held three video conferences to resolve ongoing issues in the execution of India-supported Nepal projects.

Government officials from both sides opine that this meeting is a good opportunity for both countries to review and assess the past commitments made during both Nepal, India Prime Ministerial visits in 2018.

During his visit, Gokhale will also meet Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli and Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali.

The visit comes at a time when the two countries are failing to hold the 5^th Meeting of the Joint Commission at Foreign Minister-level, earlier scheduled to be held in mid-February 2019.

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As the reports say, the higher officials’ meeting was part of preparations for the upcoming two-day BIMSTEC summit scheduled for August 30-31, 2018.

The meeting, headed by Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Shanker Das Bairagi, saw senior officials from the Ministries of Foreign/External Affairs of the BIMSTEC member nations.

The meeting is focused on preparations for the BIMSTEC Summit, says Bairagi.

During the meeting, the officials focused on 14 areas of priorities including energy, tourism, trade & investment, transport & communications, agriculture & poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, public health & environment and natural disaster & climate change set by the member states.

Nepal PM’s Address on BIMSTEC 2018
Ahead of the ministerial meeting on the side-lines of BIMSTEC 2018, the Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli made some key announcements about the Summit on August 28, 2018.

In his address to the Parliament, Oli informed lawmakers and other parliamentarians about the government-level preparations and agendas of the BIMSTEC Summit.

Stating that the Summit is being held under the theme ‘Towards Peaceful, Prosperous and Sustainable Bay of Bengal Region, Oli said the BIMSTEC 2018 will enhance economic cooperation and connectivity in key areas such as energy and transportation including railways and airways, among others.

Oli informed that the 2018 edition of BIMSTEC Summit has integrated two additional priority sectors—Blue Economy and Mountain Economy—to the existing 14 key areas that BIMSTEC already has in its list.

PM said the issues pertaining to trade, environment, connectivity and campaigns against organized crime will top the list of agendas in BIMSTEC 2018 meeting, which will also see the members agreeing upon a BIMSTEC Charter to address the same.

Oli expressed hope that the Summit will help Nepal in boosting its ties with neighbors & beyond, and also coordinate with world nations to fight poverty.

Visiting heads of various governments and BIMSTEC member nations will also hold meetings with President Bidya Devi Bhandari as part of their visit to BIMSTEC 2018, Oli added.

As Oli says, this is the first such meeting being organized after the formation of the new government post successful completion of the long-awaited three-tier elections.

“Though BIMSTEC should be held every two years, we are holding the meet for the fourth time, albeit it has been 20 years since BIMSTEC was established. We started preparations for the BIMSTEC meet after the formation of new government,” Oli told the Parliament.

The first BIMSTEC meet was held in Thailand in 1997, followed by the next one in India in 2008 and lastly in Myanmar in 2014.

Other Member Nations on BIMSTEC
According to the Indian External Foreign Affairs Ministry, BIMSTEC 2018 will also focus on counter- terrorism, enhancing regional connectivity and trade.

They feel that a push for Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and regional connectivity will have a major role to play in the Summit.

We regard BIMSTEC as gateway to seas of littoral states as well as access for two land-locked member countries Bhutan and Nepal. For India, BIMSTEC is a natural choice to fulfil our key foreign policy priorities of neighbourhood first and act east policy, says Preeti Saran, Secretary East in Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

As the reports say, members are little dissatisfied about the pace of progress pertaining to FTA.

Heads of Missions of the BIMSTEC member states have reportedly raised concerns over the same at a recently-held Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) seminar last week, stating that the BIMSTEC-FTA has not been concluded even after the framework finalization that happened 13 years ago.

“We need to find a way to deal with emerging powers in Indo-Pacific and regional groupings to provide strength in numbers. So, multilateralism is important. BIMSTEC and ASEAN can be part of Indo-Pacific regional architecture,” reads a statement by Chutintorn Gongsakdi, Ambassador of Thailand, reportedly made at a recent interaction on August 25, 2018.

The Government of Nepal has been high on preparations for the BIMSTEC Summit 2018 with tight intelligence and security measures. Let’s take a look:

High Security Measures for BIMSTEC 2018
As part of its security measures, the government is also deploying around 30,000 security forces to safeguard the BIMSTEC Summit.

The special forces include officials from the National Intelligence Department along with 8000 personnel from Nepali Army, 13,000 from Nepali Police and 6,000 Armed Police Force.
Security and transport sub-committee headed by the Home Ministry is working on detailed security plan in coordination with security forces.

On the other hand, special forces have already beefed up their security measures and vigilance check-ups across moving transport, border areas, Tribhuvan International Airport and major hotel stays.
The government is also preparing to declare no-fly-zone over the stays where the arriving foreign delegates would be residing at, a day ahead of the Summit.

“We are also conducting a threat analysis of VIPs. The Nepal Police, in close coordination with their counterparts of the participating nations, has taken a detailed account of the leaders’ activities in the last six months,” informed an official part of the security planning.

The government is also keeping a close watch on air traffic movement at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) beginning from August 29, 2018, in view of the VVIP arrivals for the Summit.

As traffic movement is expected to be affected, we are well prepared to keep the airport open 24 hours for two consecutive days if airlines ask us to do so,” informed Raj Kumar Chettri, General Manager of TIA. 

Chettri informed that the airport has already issued notices to the carriers about the VVIP movement.

According to TIA, the flight movement will be severely affected on August 30, 2018 due to the arrivals of the Heads of States from India, Bangladesh and Thailand.

“We are yet to confirm the date and time of the departure of the VVIPs. “We have aimed to process the first flights from 6am. Starting an hour early will ease traffic congestion to some extent, adds Chettri, who feels that that the impact could continue till September 01, 2018.

As part of health-related support, the government also formed the ‘Health Emergency and Disaster Management Unit’ that has a 11-member committee headed by the Ministry of Health & Population (MoHP) Secretary Dr Pushpa Chaudhary.

The country’s renowned Bir Hospital, in coordination with other local hospitals, has also set up temporary health camps along with Onsite Logistic Ambulance (OLA) on standby.

As part of safety and security measures, Nepal Government is also strengthening logistics and other aspects of management.

Overall, the government has reportedly invested around Rs 916,150 as part of health security procedures for the Summit and has also commanded 78 satellite hospitals to address emergency health issues.

Other Preparations

Meanwhile, the Government of Nepal has also made key announcements as part of its preparations for the BIMSTEC Summit 2018.

As the reports say, the government has reportedly asked the country’s top VIPs to handover their vehicles to assist the government in facilitating the safe and secure movement for the heads of different states during their visit to the country for the 4^th BIMSTEC Summit.

The list of VIPs includes Office of the President, the Office of the Prime Minister, Speaker of the Federal Parliament and National Assembly, Chief Justice, Ministers and Secretaries among others.

The government is also keen on buying private vehicles to suffice the requirements.

“We decided to make use of our own resources as such vehicles are expensive and will not be used frequently once the summit ends. Some of the vehicles are already being colored. Tinted glasses are being fit in all vehicles,” said an official.

Meanwhile, Indian Government has also stepped up its support to Nepal in its preparations for BIMSTEC Summit.

India lent three highly-sophisticated, fully-armoured cars to Nepal to be used for the heads of the states coming for Summit on August 30-31, 2018.

The Indian Aircraft C-17 on August 25, 2018 brought three BMW bulletproof cars from New Delhi to Kathmandu, which the Nepal Government will return post the Summit.

Following this, another Indian Aircraft IL-76 MD an additional armored vehicle to Kathmandu to be used for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his BIMSTEC visit.

The government has already fixed on some high-end vehicles, currently being used by Nepali ministers and other officials, for the visiting foreign ministers and secretaries. The special arrangements also include nine Mercedes Benz cars gifted by Qatar in 2016.

Learning from the past experiences from the past conferences, Nepal is planning big for this summit with a full-fledged assessment and security deployment, along with intelligence, emergency evacuation and action plan.

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-Cha and President of Myanmar Win Myint are among key dignitaries attending the BIMSTEC Summit in Nepal.

BIMSTEC body, formed two years ago, acts as a sub-regional body with key focus on enhancing economic & technical cooperation among the southern and Southeast countries of Asia along the Bay of Bengal coast.

  Towards a stronger BIMSTEC         BIMSTEC Energy Outlook 2030

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Nepal Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi will lead the meeting, which will be attended by all BIMSTEC member countries foreign secretaries— Nepal, India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Thailand, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

According to Nepal Foreign Affairs Ministry (MoFA) Assistant Spokesperson Ram Babu Dhakal, this ‘plan-of-action’ meeting will discuss the following matters:

1. All areas of preparation for BIMSTEC Summit
2. Nepal government’s views on taking forward the regional integration initiative
3. Member countries’ VIPs and VVIPs discussion agendas and their outcomes
4. Other Issues including poverty alleviation, climate change and cross-border crime

BIMSTEC to Promote Regional Cooperation:
Gyawali is eagerly looking forward to this meeting as it presents an opportunity to discuss connectivity through road, railways, and power grid network.

The BIMSTEC summit will also play a key role in establishing regional cooperation between SAARC and Southeast Asian Nations’, as the seven countries from both regions are members of BIMSTEC.

Additional Preparations for the Upcoming Summit:
Nepal MoFA says that the preparations are under full swing and official invitations have been sent to all member countries heads and their governments.

As part of the preparations, Nepal has formed several committees including a steering committee led by Nepal PM, KP Sharma Oli and preparation & co-ordination committee lead by Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali.

Conclusion:
Nepal became a BIMSTEC member in 2004, after its formation in 1997.  We hope that the Fourth BIMSTEC Summit will drive the desired regional cooperation and encourage the development of member countries with each other’s support.

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This meet was used by both parties to identify the roadblocks that hinder project implementation.

According to the Nepal Foreign Affairs Ministry, the status of all ongoing Indo-Nepal projects was discussed.

The meeting stressed on completion of all the economic and development projects at the earliest, by finding solutions to difficulties experienced during implementation of various projects.

Cross-border rail projects, Arun-III Hydropower project and the Terai Roads project are some of the projects, as per the update by the Indian Embassy.

The two bodies discussed the measures for early completion of the project within the provided TAT and expressed commitment for smooth execution of projects.

Nepal Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi and Indian Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri represented both countries at the meeting.

The latest decision comes as a result of the discussions made on the Nepal-India Oversight Mechanism to address concerns over ongoing bilateral projects implementation within stipulated time frames, taking during former Nepal PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s state visit to India in September 2016.

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Nepal shared its key achievements regarding women rights and overall welfare at a recently-held United Nations Security Council (UNSC) debate.

The UNSC debate on Women, Peace and Security, held in New York on October 27, 2017, was presided over by France (the rotating president of the Council for October 2017) and witnessed the participation of ministers and senior-level representatives from the UNSC member states.

In his address, the Foreign Secretary of Nepal Shanker Das Bairagi highlighted the role played by Nepal towards promotion and protection of women rights since the time the country adopted the UNSC Resolution 1325 in 2006.

Das pitched for more women engagement in conflict and post-conflict peacebuilding operations.

On the occasion, the Nepali diplomat updated the Security Council on Nepal’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security in line with the UNSC Resolutions 1325 and 1820.

Urge for Focus on LDCs and LLDCs

Lauding the President of General Assembly (PGA) Miroslav Lajcak for holding various high-level meetings on key global issues, Das also urged PGA to prioritize the key objectives in favor of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Land-locked Developing Countries (LLDCs).

After peace process, socio-economic transformation is on top of Nepal’s national agenda for the future, Das informed.

In response, PGA hoped Nepal would achieve its targets with major focus on peacekeeping and other key initiatives.

PGA also informed about upcoming high-level sessions that would focus on water, youth, financing for development and conflict prevention.  Migration, climate change and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were among other key issues discussed at the debate.

Nepali Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations Durga Prasad Bhattarai was also present at this open debate.

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Nepal Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi and Mohamed Maliki, ambassador of Morocco to Nepal, signed a memorandum of understanding for the formation of a bilateral consultation mechanism between Nepal and Morocco on Thursday. The ceremony held at the foreign ministry was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara along with senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco based in New Delhi and Morocco’s Honorary Consul General Basant Kumar Chaudhary.

The bilateral consultation mechanism would facilitate consultations and exchange of visits between the two nations covering different areas of mutual interest.

In his address, Secretary Bairagi said that the consultation mechanism would help to enhance the bilateral engagement in various fields between Nepal and Morocco. Ambassador Maliki said that the two countries have enjoyed excellent bilateral relations since the diplomatic ties were established in 1975 and hoped that the MoU would result in increased cooperation between them.

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