Foreign Minister Gyawali’s Address at the Joint Press Meet after bilateral talks with Japanese counterpart (Full Text)

Foreign Minister His Excellency Mr. Taro Kono

Dear Friends from the Media

Namaste and Good Evening!

1. I have immense pleasure to welcome the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan His Excellency Mr. Taro Kono in Kathmandu. We are meeting for the second time in less than two months.
2. I just had a very comprehensive and fruitful meeting with His Excellency Kono on all aspects of Nepal-Japan bilateral relations as well as regional and global issues of common concerns.
3. I expressed gratitude to the Government of Japan for its continued and unconditional support and cooperation in the socio-economic development efforts of Nepal.
4. Our two countries enjoy a close, cordial and cooperative relations. We attach great importance to our ties with Japan. Japan is one of the major development partners and one of the largest source countries of investment and tourists in Nepal.
5. As you all are aware, the present Government’s topmost agenda is economic transformation for the prosperity of the people of Nepal under the motto of “Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali”. We aspire to graduate from LDC status at an early date and become a middle-income country by 2030. I thanked the Government of Japan for its assurance of extending support in realizing these goals. I also thanked the Government of Japan for its assistance to post-earthquake reconstruction in Nepal.
6. We just signed the Exchange of Notes for revising the Air Service Agreement between Nepal and Japan signed in 1993. With the signing of this Exchange of Notes, it will pave the way for the operation of direct flight between our two countries. Similarly, a Memorandum of Cooperation has been signed between the Foreign Ministries of Nepal and Japan on Conducting Bilateral Consultations. The Memorandum of Cooperation will provide a platform to both countries to discuss modalities for extending the cooperation, review all aspects of bilateral relations, explore new areas of cooperation and exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual concerns.
7. We also discussed about bilateral cooperation for the implementation of projects in Nepal related to infrastructure building, connectivity and energy. We also discussed the Japanese investment in priority sectors of Nepal and active participation of Japanese investors and entrepreneurs in the upcoming Nepal Investment Summit to be held in March 2019.
8. We exchanged views on sending our labour forces to Japanese labour market under new immigration policy introduced by Japan. I thanked the Government of Japan for including Nepal as a source country for labour. We have agreed to conclude a Memorandum of Cooperation as soon as possible.
9. We also stressed the need of joint efforts for tourism promotion of Nepal in Japan in order to make the Visit Nepal Year 2020 successful.
10. The two sides underscored the need of continued exchange of high-level visits in order to take measures for further elevating our bilateral relations.

Thank you!