Kathmandu, May 1

Nepal and Equatorial Guinea established bilateral diplomatic relations today.

Ambassador Amrit Bahadur Rai, permanent representative of Nepal to the United Nations, and Ambassador Anatolio Ndong Mba, permanent representative of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea to the United Nations, signed a joint communiqué to this effect at a brief ceremony in New York.

According to a release issued by the Permanent Mission of Nepal to the UN, they also signed a joint letter informing the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about this development.

On the occasion, the ambassadors noted that it was a historic day, as the two countries were brought closer. They exchanged views on measures to deepen and expand the scope of mutual cooperation in the future.

The two countries are already working closely at the UN and other multilateral forums. Equatorial Guinea is on the west coast of Central Africa near the equator and the Gulf of Guinea. The country consists of a mainland territory, Río Muni, bordered by Cameroon to the north and Gabon to the east and south.

Equatorial Guinea has over 1.2 million people in an area of about 28,000 square kilometres, with Malaboas its capital. With phenomenal advances in its economy and governance in the past few years the country graduated from LDC status in 2017 by fulfilling income-only criterion, read the press release.

Both Nepal and Equatorial Guinea are members of the Group of 77 as well as the Non-aligned Movement. Equatorial Guinea is a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

With the efforts of the Government of Nepal to make the country’s bilateral diplomatic relations as universal as possible, the number of countries having direct diplomatic ties with Nepal has now reached 165.