New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, held high-level meetings in Kathmandu today, discussing enhanced bilateral cooperation with Nepali leaders.
Peters paid a courtesy call on President Ram Chandra Poudel at Shital Niwas, the President’s House. During the meeting, President Poudel highlighted Nepal’s aim to achieve middle-income country status by 2030. To accelerate this development journey, he specifically urged New Zealand to increase cooperation in trade, investment, and development.
The President recalled the longstanding cooperation between Nepal and New Zealand in multilateral forums, where both nations often share common stances on international issues.
President Poudel expressed appreciation for the role played by the Himalayan Trust, founded by Sir Edmund Hillary, in fostering people-to-people interaction and relations between the two countries.
In response during the meeting at Shital Niwas, Deputy PM Peters praised Nepal’s significant contributions to UN peacekeeping operations.
He expressed confidence that the role of smaller nations like Nepal and New Zealand remains important in international relations.
Peters stated his pleasure at visiting Nepal, describing it as a beautiful country for New Zealanders. He conveyed New Zealand’s desire to strengthen education and development ties by increasing scholarships for Nepali students.
Peters also stressed the critical need for all countries to work together to address the challenge of climate change.
Meanwhile, Visiting Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Peters also paid a courtesy call on former Prime Minister and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ at the Maoist parliamentary party office in Singh Durbar.
According to Chairman Prachanda’s secretariat, the two leaders discussed matters of mutual interest between Nepal and New Zealand.
