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Prime Minister Oli departs for Azerbaijan



18th NAM Summit

KATHMANDU, Oct 24: Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has left for Baku, the Republic of Azerbaijan on Thursday to attend the 18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) scheduled for Oct 25-26.

The PM is leading a delegation comprising of Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Chief Adviser to the Prime Minister Bishnu Rimal, Foreign Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr. Rajan Bhattarai, Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi and senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Minister Gyawali has already reached Baku to attend the Preparatory Ministerial Meeting for the summit.

His spouse Radhika Shakya will also accompany him.

Oli will attend an official dinner to be hosted by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in honor of the visiting head of delegation on Oct 25.

On Oct 26, Oli will address the general debate of the NAM Summit themed “Upholding the Bandung Principles to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of the contemporary world”.

Oli is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with the Heads of Delegations of different countries including President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro on the sidelines of the summit.

He will also hold separate meetings with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Vice-president of India Venkaiah Naidu during the visit.

The 18th NAM Summit will be preceded by the Preparatory Ministerial Meeting on 23-24 October and Senior Officials Meeting on 21-22 October 2019.

The Summit will consider the report of the Preparatory Ministerial Meeting, review the progress achieved in the implementation of the outcomes of the 17thSummit held in 2016, and conclude with the adoption of the Baku Declaration.

Nepal is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement and has been actively participating in all NAM Summits since its inception. Principles of non-alignment constitute one of the basic tenets of Nepal’s foreign policy.

The Prime Minister will arrive home on Oct 27.

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