PM KP Sharma Oli to lead Nepali delegation to 18th NAM Summit
Kathmandu, October 20
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is leaving for Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan on October 24, leading a Nepali delegation to the 18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement scheduled for October 25 and 26. He will be accompanied by his spouse Radhika Shakya.
The Nepali delegation includes Minister of Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Chief Adviser to the prime minister Bishnu Rimal, Foreign Affairs Adviser to the prime minister Rajan Bhattarai, Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi and senior officials at the MoFA.
A press release issued by the MoFA today stated that Prime Minister Oli would address the general debate of the summit on October 26. The theme of the general debate of the 18th NAM Summit will be ‘Upholding the Bandung Principles to Ensure Concerted and Adequate Response to the Challenges of Contemporary world’.
PM Oli will attend the official dinner to be hosted by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, in honour of the heads of delegation, on October 25.
He will also hold bilateral meetings with heads of delegations of different countries on the sidelines of the summit. The 18th NAM Summit will be preceded by the preparatory ministerial meeting on October 23 and 24 and senior officials’ meeting on October 21 and 22.
The summit will consider the report of the preparatory ministerial meeting, review progress achieved in implementation of the outcomes of the 17th summit held in 2016, and conclude with the adoption of the Baku Declaration, the MoFA said.
Nepal is a founding member of NAM and has been actively participating in all NAM summits since its inception. Principles of non-alignment constitute one of the basic tenets of Nepal’s foreign policy.
PM Oli will return on October 26 and arrive in Kathmandu the following day.
