Kathmandu, October 26

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Ishwar Pokharel has said Nepal’s participation in the UN peacekeeping operations is almost as old as its membership of the UN. For the last 60 years, Nepal has been a credible and dependable partner of the UN in peacekeeping.

Giving a keynote speech at the fourth Plenary Session ‘UN Peacekeeping: Challenges and Cooperation’ of the eighth Beijing Xiangshan Forum in China today, DPM Pokharel reminded that Nepal’s participation in the UN peacekeeping was its flagship contribution to the world body, which represented Nepal’s innate desire for peace and security of mankind. Such desire he said was profoundly inspired by the eternal message of peace, harmony and compassion of Buddha, the apostle of peace.

DPM Pokharel further highlighted that so far, over 136,000 Nepali blue helmets had rendered exemplary service to 45 UN peacekeeping missions.

According to him, Nepali peacekeepers reached 6,257 after recent contributions of 600 High Readiness Protection Battalion in Central African Republic recently. They are serving in 11 out of 14 peacekeeping missions and three Special Political Missions, making Nepal the fifth largest troop and police contributing country.

“We recommit the vital work of Nepali blue helmets continue as long as they are needed. Upon the request from UN, we are always ready to contribute 10 per cent of our total military strength to peace keeping missions that comes very close to 10,000 in number. We’re sincerely working to raise the number of female peacekeepers to the target of 15 per cent of the total deployed force. We’re also committed to meeting the UN benchmark of 15 per cent females in the Staff Officers and Observers category,” the DPM shared.

DPM Pokharel noted that Nepali peacekeepers were known for their impeccable professionalism, dedication, impartiality and commitment to the service of the mandate. The role played by Nepali peacekeepers to restore peace, stability and normalcy in conflict zones has been acclaimed internationally.

Moreover, he underlined that Nepal and China enjoyed very friendly and cooperative relations based on the five principles of peaceful co-existence.

He also admired China, saying that as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China had been playing an important role in maintaining international peace and security, strengthening multilateral system, and combating terrorism. “We admire China’s strong support to UN peacekeeping operations,” DPM mentioned.