Nepal Foreign Secretary Holds Bilateral Consultations With Oman

Sewa Lamsal stresses to explore the untapped potential in economic, cultural and educational areas between Nepal and Oman in the coming years, reports Vinod Raghavan

MUSCAT : A top level first meeting of the Bilateral Consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Nepal and the Sultanate of Oman was held in Muscat, Oman and reviewed the whole gamut of bilateral relations and expressed satisfaction on the excellent state of relations existing between Nepal and Oman since 1977.

Nepal’s Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal, who came all the way from the Himalayan nation, led the Nepali delegation and His Excellency Sheikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Issa Alharthy, Undersecretary for Political Affairs led the Omani delegation, discussed the  bilateral relations and agreed to promote cooperation encompassing all sectors, especially the exchange of high-level visits, trade, investment, economic cooperation, agriculture, energy, tourism, labour and foreign employment, culture, education and direct air connectivity, a top Nepal Embassy official said.

They expressed firm commitment to further enhance partnership in mutually agreed areas and to work together toward realizing economic opportunities for mutual benefits apart from creating more opportunity to promote people-to-people engagement, the official said.

Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal thanked the Government of Oman for providing employment to more than 21,000 Nepalis and emphasized on providing additional opportunities in view of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tariq’s Oman Vision 2040 strategy. She stressed the exploration of the untapped potential in economic, cultural and educational areas and proposed to establish meaningful collaborative partnership including in the private sector.

The Nepali Foreign Secretary, urged the Omani side to explore investment opportunities in Nepal including in hydropower, tourism sector and collaboration in green hydrogen sector. She requested the delegation to consider establishing Embassy of Oman in Kathmandu to further consolidate the long-standing relations.

Undersecretary Sheikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Issa Alharthy expressed willingness to promote the cooperation between Nepal and Oman in all the mutually agreed sectors and hoped to conclude the pending MOUs. He underscored the potential of the bilateral relationship and emphasized upon working together to realizing the actual benefits and also mentioned about the positive and hardworking nature of Nepali workers.

Both sides shared views on maintaining the tradition of regular exchange of high-level visits. They also expressed commitment to cooperate with each other at various multilateral forums including the United Nations. They deliberated to enhance the existing state of excellent relations through diversification of engagements in multiple sectors.

The Nepali delegation also comprised of Dornath Aryal, Ambassador of Nepal to the Sultanate of Oman, Joint Secretary Sharad Raj Aran, Head of the Central Asia, West Asia and Africa Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other officials from the Ministry and the Embassy.

While, the Omani delegation consisted of the Ambassador Dr. Mohammed Bin Ali Al Balushi, Acting Chief of Asia Pacific Department and other officials from the Foreign Ministry.

Following the meeting, the head of the Omani delegation hosted a luncheon in honour of the visiting Nepali delegation.

Earlier this morning, Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal paid a courtesy call on H.E. Dr Mahad bin Said bin Ali Baowain, Minister of Labour, Sultanate of Oman. Matters related to the mutual cooperation including MoU in the field of Labour and Manpower Exchange, employment opportunity, among others were also discussed, the official said and added, that the Nepal-Oman Bilateral Consultations Mechanism was established in 2017, and the next meeting will be held in Kathmandu on mutually convenient dates.