Ambassador of European Union to Nepal Nona Deprez will be completing her three years tenure in Nepal in a few weeks. Ambassador Deprez holds a Master of Science in European Studies from London School of Economics. Prior to assuming the position of Head of EU Delegation to Nepal in September 2020, Ambassador Deprez was Head of Unit Partnership –Service for Foreign policy instruments - European Commission, Deputy Head of Unit Election Observation Missions and EU Visitors Programme - Service for Foreign Policy Instruments European Commission and Head of Finance and Contracts for Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace; EU Delegation to Indonesia and EU Delegation to Benin. Ram Kumar Kamat of The Himalayan Times talked with Ambassador Deprez about Nepal-EU ties. Excerpts:

Nepal-EU annual joint commissions are the most visible feature of ongoing dialogue between the two sides. Are you satisfied with the outcomes of these annual dialogues?

EU Joint Commission dialogues are held annually either in Nepal or in our HQ in Brussels, Belgium. EU dialogues are most visible events - annual political and economic dialogues.

We hold frank and open discussions on all the issues that are in our common interest.We exchange information and analyse situations and afterwards translate our policies into everyday work. I think it's important to have these formal dialogues every year. Regarding the dialogue this year, there was an important delegation led by the foreign secretary that visited Brussels. Apart from taking part in the joint commission dialogue, the Nepali delegation also met EU Special representatives for human rights. This EU-Nepal dialogue is preceded by a meeting of the sub-committee on development cooperation where they discussed cooperation. Nepali colleagues also met the DG trade.

During the meeting in February, EU and Nepal discussed bilateral trade relations in the light of Nepal's graduation from Least Developed Country status in 2026. Nepal seeks to diversify its exports to the EU, to take full benefit offered by 'Everything But Arms' trading regime, while preparing to apply for the 'EU Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus ( GSP +) arrangement.The coffee sector has good prospects in Europe because coffee from the Himalayas is popular in Europe. It is delicious and has a positive image. We also support the pashmina sector. The raw products required to make pashmina goods could be processed in Nepal so that it can be truly Nepal made pashmina.

Nepal can add value to the products. We also want to support Nepal's preparations for its application to GSP Plus.

Nepal will graduate from LDC status to middle income country in 2026. Then there is a transition period of three years when Nepal will benefit fully from Everything But Arms, our most preferential trade regime with zero duties and zero quotas on all products except for arms. In 2029 that will stop. GSP Plus is also a very preferential trade regime that provides unilateral trade benefits to Nepal. For that Nepal has to ratify and effectively implement some 30 conventions related to environment, human rights and labour rights.

Nepal has already ratified most of these conventions.It still needs to ratify some conventions including labour inspection ILO convention, freedom of association and the Cartagena protocol on bio-safety.

All of these instruments will benefit Nepal, its workers and consumers. We are increasingly a very big economic market so our consumers increasingly want to consume goods that have been produced in a sustainable way and in decent work conditions. I see a lot of trade prospects between the two sides.

We are also supporting Nepal in attracting foreign direct investment and creating a more conducive environment for FDI. For that we have supported work on one stop shop that will make it easier for investors.Regulatory environment still needs to be improved to attract FDI. What is more important for attracting FDI is to have stable and conducive regulatory mechanism. Rules have to be stable and clear and rules have to be implemented. There should be ease in doing business. In any country, political stability matters when it comes to attracting FDI.

Nepal has not fully benefited from the EU trading regime. What are your views on this?

I would not say that Nepal is not benefiting from this regime. Ninety per cent of Nepal's export to EU is under everything but arms, but of course it can benefit more. Nepal can benefit fully if it focuses on niche products with high added value.

Nepal needs new technology to produce quality goods. How can the EU support Nepal in this regard?

Italian colleagues are for instance promoting agro-processing machines in Nepal. What is important is standards and lab materials and the EU has been providing lab materials.

We have also trained people in Nepal, but the issue is that those trained people often move to another job so the training has to start over again. So, what is also needed is institutional capacity so that the certification machines that have been provided are not being used anymore, can be used again.

How is the EU supporting Nepal's green, resilient, and inclusive development (GRID) to promote investments, and protect environment?

We have climate concerns. We want to be the first carbon neutral continent by the year, 2050 and we have a very ambitious green growth or green deal project. We, along with 17 other partners, signed up to Nepal's green, resilient inclusive development agenda because Nepal has to use its full society in order to get to its full potential development so I think it is a very important positive agenda.

We are supporting Nepal in many ways. We are working to increase renewable energy, solar energy, where we try to reinforce public-private partnership. We are also working with our German colleagues to improve en-ergy efficiency and we also support big investment in hydro power through the European Investment Bank. The EU will keep on supporting human capital development because we believe that way it will become resilient.

We continue to support Nepal government's school sector programme on education, on nutrition and we support water and sanitation programme. I think Nepal could just leapfrog and adopt green technology.

Both EU and Nepal commit to the rules-based international order.

What are the challenges facing the rules-based international order and how should the world community strive to promote rules-based international order?

EU started out as a peace project after the second world war so for us peace has always been important. Many countries in the EU are smaller than Nepal so we also have unity in diversity. We understand very closely that not a single country solves the global challenges on its own. We need to work together on common global goods.

We are implementing the new constitution. How do you assess the progress of the implementation of the constitution?

EU supports implementation of the Nepali constitution. The constitution guarantees equal rights to all Nepali citizens. I think there has been tremendous progress. I think Nepalis are maybe a bit impatient in terms of implementation of the constitution. The constitution was promulgated in 2015 and the first general election after the new constitution was held in 2017 and then there was COVID-19 pandemic. Now you had the second general election in 2022 so there has been enormous progress in the implementation of the constitution. The constitution provisioned for federalism, there has been progress in the roll out of federalism, but of course more needs to be done. Implementing the constitution takes time. So I trust the Parliament will discuss and adopt new laws that are required to implement the constitution.

The Civil Service Act, Police Act and Education Act have to be enacted. I think there are tens of laws that were drafted and I think the Parliament needs to discuss and adopt them.

How will the EU support Nepal in its efforts to graduate from LDC status?

EU will not leave Nepal as soon as it graduates from LDC. We will continue to support Nepal. The National Planning Commission has worked on the LDC graduation strategy.Nepal's LDC graduation strategy will be closely linked to Nepal's 16th development plan and sustainable development goals.

You are completing your tenure in Nepal. What impressions are you carrying back home?

Nepal is an amazing country. We have supported Nepal's overall development policies nation-wide but we also support specific programmes in the provinces where HDI indicators are weak and where more support is needed. I have travelled more to Karnali, Sudurpaschim, and Madhes provinces where we support such specific programmes. I have met elected representatives in those provinces.

There is very vibrant civil society in those provinces so it's been fascinating journey to engage with Nepali authorities, and civil society.Nepal and EU have longstanding trusted partnership so next year we will celebrate 50 years of bilateral relations. Next year we will review our partnership in a comprehensive manner and see how our partnership can evolve in the future. So we are looking at a year of celebrations together.

Would you like to comment on Nepal's vote in favour of UN resolution on Ukraine?

Nepal is a staunch supporter of multilateralism.Nepal upholds the UN charter on territorial integrity and sovereignty of each state.

The EU and Nepal shared the vision that we need rules-based international order where might does not make right. It is not that a bigger country has the right to invade a smaller country. Historically, Nepal had voted against the invasion of Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

So each time Nepal has exhibited consistent voting behaviour. Nepal has voted against actions that are against the UN charter.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 14, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.