Hours after being appointed the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Narayan Khadka left for the United States on Wednesday evening to take part in the 76th Session of the United National General Assembly being held at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba yesterday appointed Nepali Congress lawmaker Dr Khadka as the new Foreign Minister, while President Bidhya Devi Bhandari swore him in the very day.
Dr Khadka is a permanent resident of Udayapur district and represents Udayapur Constituency-1 in the House of Representatives. He holds a PhD in economics from Pune, India.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Khadka is scheduled to address the General Debate of the 76th UNGA under the theme of ‘Building resilience through hope – to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalize the United Nations.’
While in New York, Minister Dr Khadka will participate in the ministerial meetings on the sidelines of UNGA and hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts and high officials of the United Nations.
He is leading a delegation that includes Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal, senior government officials from Kathmandu, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations in New York Amrit Bahadur Rai and officials from the Permanent Mission of Nepal in New York as well as Consulate General of Nepal in New York.
Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government was formed on July 12. This is the second expansion of the government since its formation.
Although Deuba added one more minister in his Cabinet, he has not been able to give full shape to it by inducting ministers from other coalition partners as the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led CPN (Unified Socialist) and the Upendra Yadav-led Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal want the Political Party Act (Second Amendment) Ordinance withdrawn.
