PM Oli leaving for Baku of Azerbaijan to participate in 18th Non-Aligned Movement Summit

Kathmandu, Oct. 24: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is leaving for Baku, the capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan today, leading a 21-member Nepali delegation to participate in the 18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). The Summit is being held from 25 to 26 of October.

The Nepali delegation includes Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Chief Adviser to the Prime Minister Bishnu Rimal, Foreign Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr Rajan Bhattarai, Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi and senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs among others.

Foreign Affairs Minister Gyawali has already reached Baku to attend the preceding Preparatory Ministerial Meeting that began yesterday. Nepal was elected the Vice-Chair of the Ministerial Conference representing the Asia-Pacific region.  According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister Oli is scheduled to address the general debate of the Summit on the 25th of October.

On the side-lines of the Summit Prime Minister Oli will also hold bilateral meetings with the Heads of Delegations of different countries on the sidelines of the Summit. The Prime Minister and his delegation will return from Baku on October 26 and arrive home on 27 October.

Meanwhile, addressing the Non-Aligned Movement Ministerial Meeting in Baku yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said Nepal, as a founding member, believes that a stronger and revitalized Non Aligned Movement is a necessary condition for achieving peace, development, and security.

Foreign Minister Gyawali said the Non-Aligned Movement membership, in the spirit of solidarity, should support each other in building domestic capacity by sharing their experiences, best practices, and resources through the South-South Cooperation mechanism.

Pointing out the need to strengthen the multilateral system by upholding and defending the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and of international law, he said “Multilateralism has been under attack due to growing trends of populist nationalism and protectionism.