Fifteen delegation members, including Prime Minister Khanal, his spouse Ravi Laxmee Chitrakar and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav left for Istanbul on Friday evening. [break]
The remaining members of the Nepali delegation are scheduled to leave for Turkey from Kathmandu, New York, Geneva, and Pakistan on Saturday.
The other members accompanying PM Khanal include Foreign Secretary Madan Bhattarai, foreign ministry spokesperson Rudra Nepal, chief of protocol Mukti Nath Bhatta, the prime minister´s foreign relations advisor Milan Raj Tuladhar, press advisor Surya Thapa, personal secretary Dipak Chandra Amatya, ADC Aash Bahadur Tamang and lawmakers Yam Lal Kandel and Puja Khanal.
Nepali ambassador to United Nations and Geneva, Nepalese Ambassador to Islamabad, who is also accredited to the Republic of Turkey, National Planning Commission Vice Chairman Dinesh Chandra Devkota, will join the delegation later.
Nepal currently chairs the Global Coordination Bureau of the LDCs that has a total 48 member countries. The prime minister will address the six-day conference in the capacity of the chair of LDCs. The LDCs conference will mainly dwell on poverty alleviation and climate change, the two major challenges facing all 48 LDCs. Nepal will propose halving the current number of LDCs in the next 10 years.
“The discussions will center on how to uplift the LDCs from poverty,” said MoFA Spokesperson Rudra Nepal. “The conference will bring a 10-year action plan after identifying common problems facing the LDCs”
PM to hold bilateral talks on the sideline of the conference
Prime Minister Khanal will hold bilateral meetings with leaders of various countries on the sideline of the conference. “Arrangements have been made for bilateral talks with the head of the state of some countries,” said Nepal.
He said more meetings with leaders from other countries will be arranged after reaching Turkey. Officials said Prime Minister Khanal will call on Turkish President and Prime Minister and Prime Ministers of Finland and Belgium. He will also meet UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon during the conference.
According to our correspondent in Hong Kong, Prime Minister Khanal is also scheduled to hold bilateral meeting with Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Fu Ziying.
Prime Minister Khanal is scheduled to return home on May 15. During his meeting with the prime minister on Friday morning, President Dr Ram Baran Yadav had asked the prime minister to come back home as early as possible saying that it is not good to stay away from the country for long as they are approaching May 28 deadline for promulgating new constitution.
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