Nepal and United Kingdom reviewed the overall state of Nepal-UK relationship and deliberated on enhancing the engagements in various areas of mutual interest. They also reviewed the ongoing talks on Ex-Gurkha issues and agreed to continue discussion towards addressing the grievances.

According to a press release issued by Embassy of London, the two sides renewed their willingness to cooperate on various matters of common interest at multilateral forums, such as advancing the agendas of climate change, poverty alleviation, and sustainable development, among others.

Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal led Nepali Delegation in the 6th meeting of Nepal-United Kingdom Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) which was held at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in London on 26 April 2023.

The delegations exchanged views on over two centuries-old friendship and cooperation and took stock of the progress made in major aspects of the bilateral relations, including development cooperation and priorities, trade, investment and tourism, education and human resource development, consular matters and people-to-people linkages, the British Gurkha issues, climate change and sustainable development as well as working together on agendas of mutual interest in multilateral forums. The meeting reviewed the ongoing talks on Ex-Gurkha issues and agreed to continue discussion towards addressing the grievances.

The UK side highlighted the changing shape of UK’s development cooperation portfolio and shared the priority areas of future cooperation to Nepal that would include support in transition to middle income country and progress towards sustainable development goals, help in mobilizing investment and climate finance, support in expanding access to education, in particular girls’ education.

Nepali side appreciated the valuable development cooperation provided by the United Kingdom as one of the largest development partners and emphasized the need of continuity and enhancement of such support at a critical time of graduation from the least developed country status.

The two sides agreed to work towards further consolidating and widening cooperation and engagements in productive sectors such as trade, investment, energy and tourism. It was also agreed that scaling up investment in Nepal’s clean energy would not only foster economic growth but would also help address the agenda of climate change. The two sides also discussed utilization of the investment windows such as British International Investment (BII) on various fronts including renewable energy and information and communication sector, as well as possibility of channelizing more resources from British Investments Partnership (BIP).

According to a press release issued by Embassy of London, the two sides renewed their willingness to cooperate on various matters of common interest at multilateral forums, such as advancing the agendas of climate change, poverty alleviation, and sustainable development, among others. The United Kingdom appreciated Nepal’s contribution to the UN peacekeeping as the second largest troops providing country currently.

In a separate meeting, Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal and the Permanent Under-Secretary at FCDO Sir Philip Barton had a productive discussion on a range of topics including marking of the centenary of Friendship Treaty, exchange of high-level visits, bilateral cooperation, among other matters.