KATHMANDU: Nepal and Côte d’Ivoire (formerly Ivory Coast) have established formal bilateral diplomatic relations today, according to Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations, New York.

The number of countries with which Nepal has established diplomatic relations has now reached 146, making 75 percent of the United Nations member States.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations Durga Prasad Bhattarai and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire to the United Nations Claude Bouah-Kamon signed a Joint Communique to this effect at a brief ceremony in New York this morning.

Upon signing of the Joint Communique, the two ambassadors expressed their confidence that the relations and scope of cooperation between the two countries will further deepen and expand in the future at bilateral as well as multilateral levels.

The two ambassadors also jointly informed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about the establishment of Nepal- Côte d’Ivoire bilateral relations today itself.