The Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace (GAMIP), the largest international organization on peace building in the world, based in Geneva, Switzerland has elected Suresh Prasad Acharya of Nepal in the position of Treasurer for the year 2013-2014. This was the first time in GAMIP any person from Asia has been elected to this highest position.

The candidature of Acharya was proposed by a participant from the United States of America and seconded by a participant from Denmark. Prior to this Acharya was the member of the Board of Directors of the GAMIP since 2011.

Ms Karen Barenshe from South Africa and Birger Nurup from Denmark have been unanimously elected co-president of the organization. GAMIP, established a decade ago by an international conference held in the United Kingdom today has membership from more than 50 countries and supported by various governments amongst Nepal, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Papua New Guinea, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Congo, South Africa, Colombia as well as United Nations (UN) and other multilateral, international, regional and national organizations.  

During the sixth summit of the GAMIP held from September 16-20 at Geneva’s Centre  Conférences de Varembé and at Palaise de United Nations (UN), participated by 157 peace builders from more than 42 countries of world unanimously elected Acharya in treasurer, who is also the president of Media Initiative for Rights, Equity and Social Transformation (MIREST), a well-know media advocacy organization in Nepal focused in peace, building, constitution making, democratization and good governance. 

Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, Sadhuram Sapkota participated in the world conference as a mandated representative of the Government of Nepal. He is also the coordinator of Nepal Peace Trust Fund Secretariat, which has key roles in peace building efforts and implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Accord in the country. Nepal’s role in peace building was highlighted in the conference by various participants. Nepal, Costa Rica and Papua New Guinea are the only three countries of the world who have Ministry of Peace in the executive structure.

The summit of GAMIP also endorsed a United Nations Resolution calling on the UN to support infrastructures for peace in governments and countries around the world in contributing to building a global culture of peace. A petition on this will be submitted to the Secretary General of the United Nations soon after collecting signatures in support of the petition around the world.

The Asia Pacific Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace (APAMIP) was also formally established, as a regional peace mechanism affiliated with GAMIP to support the creation of and strengthen existing infrastructures for peace in the region. Acharya, was unanimously elected as the coordinator of the newly formed regional peace forum, which has current memberships from 10 countries including Nepal.

The GAMIP plans to organize its seventh global summit in October 2015 and the first APAMIP regional conference in October 2014 in Nepal.  Acharya says, “Today, there are over 50 countries in the world which are being ravaged by internal conflicts, therefore peace building has become such crucially important key that can unlock the potentials of excellence, happiness and values of humankinds. In this context, I am confident that the Government of Nepal (GON) would be eager to host or co-sponsor these events, so that it could get opportunities to share its knowledge on the successes of its peace building efforts to other countries for the benefit of humanity.”