Prime Minister Balendra Shah is set to depart for New York on Tuesday via Qatar Airways to lead Nepal's delegation to the 81st UN General General Assembly.
Shah will address the General Assembly's high-level debate on September 24 and meet UN Secretary-General António Guterres, before returning to Nepal around September 26.
This marks Shah's first foreign trip since taking office in March.
Nepal originally planned to send only Khanal, but the scale of the Bhote Koshi floods prompted the Cabinet to send the PM himself to press Nepal's climate. With an estimated Rs 723 billion reconstruction bill from the floods, Shah's personal UN appearance signals Nepal is using its biggest diplomatic platform of the year to seek international support and attention for its climate vulnerability.
