KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 16
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal left for New York this evening, leading the Nepali delegation to the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) being held at the UN Headquarters in New York.
PM Dahal is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly on September 21. The theme of the General Debate of the 78th UNGA has been chosen as "Rebuilding Trust and Reigniting Global Solidarity: Accelerating Action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards Peace, Prosperity, Progress and Sustainability for All".
According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs the PM will attend the opening session of the General Debate of the 78th UNGA and attend the reception being hosted by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, on September 19.
While in New York, the PM will also address the UN sustainable development goals summit and climate ambition summit, among others, on the sidelines of the UNGA.
The PM will hold a meeting with the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from various countries, according to MoFA.
The PM is being accompanied by his daughter Ganga Dahal, Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal and other senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha and other ministers of his Cabinet, Speaker Devraj Ghimire and other high raking government officials saw the PM off at Tribhuvan International Airport.
Meanwhile, President Ramchandra Paudel designated DPM Khadka as the Acting PM while PM Dahal would be away attending UNGA and visiting China after the UNGA meeting. The PM is scheduled to embark on China visit upon completion of UNGA meeting.
CPN-Maoist Centre Spokesperson Agni Prasad Sapkota said that the PM's main agenda would be to seek international support to end the peace process. Sapkota told mediapersons at a press conference that although the peace process had already been completed, some vested interests were trying to prevent the government from announcing the formal conclusion of the peace process.
Sapkota also said the PM wanted to end the peace process with the consensus of mainly three parties- the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN-MC.
He said there was no option but to bring the peace process to a logical conclusion. Stating that the government had held four elections and completed army integration, Sapkota said the peace process had effectively been completed and only the formal announcement remained to be made. He said conspiracy was being hatched to stop the government from making the formal announcement of the conclusion of the peace process.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 17, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
