Nepal Foreign Affairs (KATHMANDU, June 25) – The government is all set to host an International Conference on Nepal’s reconstruction on Wednesday with the theme ‘Towards a Resilient Nepal’.
The conference is first of its kind in Nepal which is aimed at raising funds from foreign countries for Nepal’s reconstruction so as to bring back the dwindling economy on the track which was badly hit by the devastating earthquake on April 25 and ensuing aftershocks.
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala will inaugurate the conferences on Thursday 8 am at Hotel Soaltee.
Altogether 260 representatives from 60 countries, senior officials from Nepal’s development partners, multilateral financial institutions and UN agencies arrived in Kathmandu to attend the conference. Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi landed in Kathmandu on Wednesday. Nepal government had extended invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese Premier Le Keqiang to attend the international conference as special guests. But the prime ministers from China and India skipped the conference citing their hectic schedule at homes. The foreign ministers of India, China and Norway, Finance Minister of Bangladesh, and State Foreign Minister from Japan paid courtesy calls on Prime Minister Koirala in Kathmandu.
PM Koirala had informed the ministers and sought their support for the reconstructions and rebuilding Nepal. Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat said donors, development agencies and other friendly countries will pledge their support and hint areas of cooperation which they would support in future during conference.
A Post-Disaster Needs Assessment prepared by the National Planning Commission estimated that Nepal needs Rs.669 billion to recover the earthquake-shattered Nepal. The second session of the conference is allocated for pledging for reconstruction by the donors.
Subsequently, the two technical sessions will kick start, in which, the donors and multilateral institutions will make paper presentations on different areas. These papers will be focused on knowledge sharing on urban development, rural development, disaster response and rescue efforts, among others.
The foreign ministers of India, China and Norway, the finance ministers of Bhutan and Bangladesh, the Disaster Management Minister of Sri Lanka and Japan’s state minister for Foreign Affairs are set to attend the donors’ meet.