NEW YORK: Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said that there was no dispute among the member states of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) with regards to the regional organisation.

He said this while speaking at a joint interaction with journalists who are in New York to cover the 73rd United Nations General Assembly and Nepali journalists working in the United States of America. The Foreign Affairs Minister is part of the Nepali delegation headed by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to participate in the UNGA.

Minister Gyawali said, Nepal was in no way responsible for the SAARC Summit -- which was to be held in 2016 -- not taking place till date and added that Nepal was making efforts towards creating a conducive environment within SAARC.

Stating that SAARC was alive and kicking, he said that although its summit had not taken place yet, other processes were functional and all concerned have the desire to take it forward. He said, there are some minor differences which could be sorted out.

In response to a query regarding Prime Minister not addressing the journalists overall, Foreign Minister Gyawali said attempts had been made to inform maximum number of news agencies possible about the achievements made by Nepal and that the Prime Minister had interacted with journalists as far as possible. He explained that this situation had resulted because of the lack of time and a common network of the Nepali community in New York.

When asked about ranks of participants and size of delegation appropriate to participate in the UNGA, Minister Gyawali said that these decisions were made by the respective countries and this time Nepal's representation was from the prime ministerial level since the government wanted to send a message from the highest level itself.

He further informed that the western countries were represented in the UNGA mostly by the heads of governments. Minister Gyawali also said that a country like Nepal had to make much use of its diplomatic capacity and that this was a big refuge.

He also said, there was no truth in the allegation that the large delegation had come to the general assembly because they had a fascination to visit America and travel on an airplane.

Minister Gyawali stated that Nepal had contributed to various peacekeeping operations even in the face of adversities and that it has already been 60 years since the country started serving in such operations. He added that many Nepali soldiers had become martyrs in the process and that a request had been made to recognise such contributions of the Nepali people.