Deputy Ambassador of Canada to Nepal Amanda Strohan held talks with government officials on issues of bilateral cooperation. Ram Kumar Kamat of The Himalayan Times had a tete-a-tete with Strohan about her interactions with government officials in Nepal. She says her government strongly supports open Indo-Pacific and rules-based order.

Excerpts:

What is the main purpose of your visit this time?

The main focus of my trip to Nepal this time is to visit a number of projects that Canada is funding. We had the opportunity to meet a number of government officers here. Canada has a longstanding relationship with Nepal. Our diplomatic relations have been warm and friendly because we have long range of shared values, interests, and priorities and a couple of examples of those are that we are commitment to combat climate change and ensure gender equalities and inclusive government. These are the issues that I have been pursuing in Nepal during my trip. We are particularly pleased to be here when Nepal is heading into its elections in November. Nepal has made tremendous progress in last several years in its road to democracy.

We are excited to have the opportunity to support Nepal's inclusive democratic growth. In particular for these elections, Canada has been funding local implementing partners in order to ensure that people with disabilities, women, LGBTQ people and marginalised groups who also have disabilities are able to fully participate in the elections in November so we are excited to be here to continue our conversation with government officers. Climate change is another focus of another development assistance.

Canada's assistance has continued to grow over the last many years. We ended our bilateral development assistance programme in 2013 but our commitment to Nepal has continued to grow. And in fact, since that programme ended, our official development assistance to Nepal has increased by about 50 per cent.

Canada is one of the major donors for green climate fund project. The Asian Development Bank is implementing the Canadian climate fund. Those two funds amount to $97million. We are helping Nepal to mitigate climate change impacts, to adapt and be resilient in the face of climate change. Upper Trishuli hydel project has $ 30 million of Canadian funding. Nepal is the one among only three countries to receive Canadian assistance in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. We provided 27 ventilators and a large number of PPEs. We also provided one million dollars to International Red Cross. We are also engaged in reconstruction post-earthquake. We also provided 27 million dollars to UNICEF to help initial efforts through IFRC and NGOs. Now we are engaged as the largest donor of the World Bank's housing reconstruction project which will build 240,000 homes that were destroyed by the earthquake. We also have great deal of commercial engagements with Nepal. Our trade relations with Nepal amounted to approximately $75 million in 2021.

What is the current state of bilateral trade?

As far as bilateral trade is concerned, in 2021, Canadian exports to Nepal totalled $62.2 million and Canadian imports from Nepal reached $12.5 million. Aside from agricultural commodities, bilateral trade is modest – around $20 million annually. Canada's main exports to Nepal in 2021 were vegetables, oil seeds, machinery, and electronics. Canada's main imports from Nepal consist of carpets, retail pet food and articles made from textiles.

What are the areas where Canada and Nepal have more opportunities for collaboration?

Potential sectors for further enhancing the Canada-Nepal bilateral trade include civil aviation (especially aircraft and parts, and related services); urban infrastructure; ICT (software); energy (including hydropower energy generation, and other alternative energy forms like wind, biomass, and solar); energy equipment and services; water and wastewater management and technologies; irrigation equipment and engineering; agriculture collaboration and agri-food.

Of course, some Canadian firms are involved in some major hydel projects here and there are certainly opportunities. But it is important part of relations to pursue our interests on commercial issues. Again, those commercial issues are linked to, as I said earlier, climate change issues and greening.

On climate issues, both Nepal and Canada are cooperating. Canada has a lot in common with Nepal as a mountainous country so we have a lot of common interests. We have expertise in renewable energy, waste management and there are some other areas where we can collaborate. There is a nexus of climate change and environmental protection and gender inequality. Impacts of climate change are affecting women and girls differently. Solution to climate change also needs to involve women and girls. Canada certainly recognises this. Nepali partners are also cooperating on these issues. These are global issues and global issues need global solutions. There has been a great deal of openness on the part of the government to collaborate on these issues.

How can Canada and Nepal promote people to people ties?

We have a large number of Nepali people going to Canada for studies, tourism, business and other purposes and Canadians also visit Nepal. We will continue to encourage people to people ties because those ties make our bilateral relations stronger.

We hear grudges from students who want to pursue higher studies in Canada. They say they are not getting visas easily.

There is a growing interest in all sectors for immigration and for studies. We welcome the high degree of interests in travelling to Canada but we also recognise that it has been a challenge for some students to get their visas in time to start school year. Our government is committed to expediting the visa process to make it faster to get their visas. We are very committed to ensuring that students are able to study in Canada. We value the presence of Nepali students in Canada.

What are your views on Nepal's recent engagement with foreign powers?

Democracy is dynamic type of government. Canada firmly supports Nepal's efforts to grow its democratic governance and we will do what we can to partner with Nepal. Nepal is a young democracy and in recent years it has made tremendous advances in its democratic development over the last several years and so we will continue to support Nepal's efforts to remain committed to democratic process. I would also say that Canada strongly supports free and open Indo-Pacific. Canada also firmly and strongly supports as part of our foreign policy a rulebased international order. You mentioned global challenges, and Canada firmly believes that in order for nations to face the global nature of our challenges, a strong, stable, reliable and trustworthy rule-based international order. This is a value that we share with Nepal and we will continue to partner with Nepal and underpin the rule-based international order and that will benefit the nations of this region, Canada and other nations of the world.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 10, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.