Kathmandu, December 19
Foreign ministers of Nepal and the United States have held direct talks after a hiatus of 16 years.
The talks, which took place in Washington on Tuesday, saw Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discuss a range of issues including the Millenium Challenge Compact and ties with North Korea.
According to the State Department’s deputy spokesperson Robert Palladino, the US expressed its commitment to strong ties with Nepal during the historic meeting. The duo talked about North Korea and peace and independence in the Indo-pacific region, the State Department said.
According to Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two ministers also talked about different dimensions of bilateral ties. Similarly, Gyawali told Pompeo that Nepal’s aim was to graduate to a middle-income country by 2030. He also told his US counterpart that two countries can deepen their ties through the exchange of political visits and sharing of experience.
The meeting comes 16 years after then US Secretary of State Collin Powell visited Nepal to hold talks with Nepali officials. Powell arrived in Nepal in 2002 just after the Royal Massacre and during the peak of the Maoist insurgency.
Similarly, a meeting of top bureaucrats from both the countries was also convened later in the day. Foreign Ministry Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi led the Nepali delegation. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the meeting concentrated on improved ties between the two countries in various sectors such as trade and investment.
