Except for the much awaited PM Shah's speech today at the 81st convention of UNGA, several bilateral meetings alongside establishing new diplomatic relations happened today at what we call UN sideline activities. Below listed are everything that happened today at UN sideline related to Nepal:
1) Nepal establishes Diplomatic relations with Namibia: Nepal and Namibia are now official partners. Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal and Namibia's Minister Selma Ashipala-Musavyi signed an agreement in New York. This makes Namibia the 187th country to have diplomatic ties with Nepal. Before the signing at the UN headquarter, conversations on the topic related to recent floods in Nepal and ways to work together in the upcoming future were held.
2) Foreign Minister met Australian counterpart, Penny Wong: Bilateral meeting with Australian counterpart of Khanal was held. During the conversation damage caused by Nepal's floods and the ongoing rescue and rebuilding work was discussed. Khanal also expressed gratefulness for the support Australia has provided. Both sides talked about making Nepal-Australia relations stronger and finding new ways to work together.
3) PM Balen Shah meets Australian PM Albanese:Seperate to the meetings held between Nepali and Australian Foreign Ministers, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met Nepal's PM Balendra Shah. Albanese reportedly promised continued Australian support for Nepal's recovery.
4) Khanal meets UK Minister Kristy McNeil:Khanal and UK Minister of State Kristy McNeil held a bilateral meeting and discussed about Nepal-UK relations. The main focus was on making UK help more useful for flood recovery and rebuilding in Nepal. Both sides agreed that cooperation between the two countries has been growing recently.
Among all of the sideline events, one that stands out today is today's engagements of Albanese-Shah as a head of government level commitment rather than a ministerial one.
Khanal remains in New York up until the closing of the General Assembly which leaves rooms for further bilateral meetings or for establishing diplomatic relations before returning back to Nepal on Sep 29.
