Kathmandu, June 21 :

Erich W Muller, the director for Asia of the EuropeAid Cooperation Office (AIDCO) of the European Commission will be officially visiting Nepal from 21 to 23 June. This is the first time an AIDCO official at director’s level is undertaking a bilateral visit to Nepal, states a press release issued here today.

Series of meetings will be undertaken to discuss major priorities and development challenges, it adds. “Assessing the EC cooperation in Nepal would be the primary objective of the visit.”

Muller is scheduled to have meetings with the representatives of the government (ministry of foreign affairs, ministry of finance and ministry of education and sports), the Peace Secretariat, the Election Commission, civil society, the World Bank, the UN and other international agencies.

The EuropeAid Cooperation Office (AIDCO) was formally established in 2001 as a European Commission’s effort to reform the management of external aid. The mission of AIDCO is to implement the external aid instruments of the European Commission, which are fun-ded by the European Community’s budget and the European Development Fund.