Oli's visit to US will be successful if he can raise the climate change issue effectively
Prime Minister K P Oli has embarked on a 10-day visit to the United States beginning from September 20 to participate in the 79th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters. He is accompanied by Minister for Foreign Affairs Arzu Deuba Rana who has shot into prominence recently by being able to complete a successful visit to neighbouring India marked by the meeting with the Prime Minister, a privilege which few foreign ministers enjoyed in the past. Along the sidelines, his programme is to meet the world leaders, including the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, and Chief Advisor of Bangladesh Mohammad Yunus, also a Noble Peace Laureate. Yunus has emerged into the political scene following a three-month-long nationwide protest. It was so violent that it led to the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hassina, leading to self-imposed exile in neighbouring India despite riding on the crest of a two-thirds majority.
The objectives of the visit are two-fold. Firstly, it is to highlight the problems of the climate change before the UN Assembly that has dealt fatal blows to the already sagging and fragile economy of the country. The spotlight will be on the flood caused by the glacial lake outburst on the picturesque village of Thame, the birthplace of an illustrious personality like Tenzing Norgay who scaled Mount Everest, the highest peak of the world, with Edmund Hillary of New Zealand. Secondly, it is to address the Nepali community as well as the University of Columbia, highlighting on the Journey of Nepal's Democracy and Economic Prosperity.
Such visits have been undertaken regularly in the past, but they have left much to be desired. One of the examples is the visit of Prime Minister Prachanda last year. Prachanda had planned to tour with a Jumbo team initially and had to trim down the numbers to calm down the criticism. His address to the Sustainable Development Goals Summit as the head of the Least Developed Countries followed by the one in the United Nations General Assembly were not considered to be as innovative as they should have been.
It may be remembered that he tried to project the problems Nepal is facing due to climate change despite its zero contribution to carbon emission, which is held responsible for the burgeoning climate change problem. In fact, it had already obtained the world's attention following the visit of the United Nations General Secretary Antonio Guterres to Nepal. He had addressed the Nepali Parliament after flying past Mount Everest and visiting the base camp of Mount Annapurna. Moreover, his two-week-long visit to China as if cruising for a personal vacation was considered to be too long, giving the impression that the Prime Minister had no pressing problems at home.
Oli's visit has, however, met with initial success due to the meeting already held with Indian Prime Minister Modi, the first of its kind after he became the Prime Minister leading a coalition government of the Nepali Congress (NC) and the Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) parties. This coalition of two large political parties has raised political eye brows as they usually share opposite benches in the Parliament. No wonder then that the opposition, the Maoist Centre, has labelled it as coming together to cover up the corruption allegations made against the two leaders – Oli and Sher Bahadur Deuba – on the Giri Bandhu and Wide body scams.
Oli and Modi agreed on resolving the outstanding problems by creating a suitable machinery in the future. Modi said that they had a good meeting focussing on issues such as energy, technology and trade. He further opined that Nepal-India friendship was very robust and looked forward to adding more momentum to the existing ties. Modi has also reportedly agreed to visit Nepal on a convenient date. It has brought great relief to the government camp, in general, and the UML, in particular, as Prime Minister Oli has not received any invitation from India after becoming the Prime Minister in view of the age-old tradition of first visiting India after assuming the coveted position.
Moreover, the Indian government is said to be disappointed with Nepal and more with Prime Minister Oli for raising the issue of the pointed map unilaterally without proper political dialogue with India. It has been held responsible for the unwillingness of India to receive the report prepared by Eminent Persons Group (EPG) which was formed with the mutual agreement between India and Nepal.
Oli's visit to US will be successful if he can raise the climate change issue effectively and not as a mere eye wash as has been the case in the past. The carbon emitting countries, because of their excessive use of fossil fuels, are reluctant to fund countries like Nepal that have been facing daunting problems. Moreover, it remains to be seen how he will present Nepal's journey to Democracy and Economic Prosperity. Democracy is about giving high regard to the rule of the law, but Oli has undermined the Supreme Court verdict by dissolving the House on two occasions when the court had declared it unconstitutional in the first instance.
That bad governance dominated by corruption has been a stumbling block for attaining economic prosperity is accepted by all alike in the country. But the delay in addressing it after Oli came to power when it had generated some momentum in the last government's tenure headed by prime minister Prachanda coupled with the agreement signed between the UML and NC at midnight as if to avoid corruption charges alleged against these parties do not auger well towards this end. When judged against the glaring realities, Oli's visit may be at best a mixed one marked by initial success with failure following it.
