23 April, Kathmandu:
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Kamal Thapa, has underlined the need of a robust collaboration with the international community for means of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.
While delivering a national statement at the High-Level Thematic Debate on Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in the UN General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday, DPM Thapa highlighted that the current global efforts and cooperation were not adequate to help disadvantaged countries to come out of their difficulties, according to a press statement released by the the Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations, New York, on Friday.
The High-Level Thematic Debate on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals was convened by President of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft.
In his address, the DPM said, “The international cooperation including financial resources, technology, and partnerships is required to be complemented by our own efforts under national leadership and ownership.”
The Thematic Debate was organized with a twin-purpose of increasing international awareness and political momentum for effectively implementing the SDGs and showing its strong inter linkages with the Paris Agreement, which is going to be signed during a High-Level Signature Ceremony to be convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations later today.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the High-Level Thematic Debate, Mr. Lykketoft thanked world leaders for their participation in the High-Level Thematic Debate as well as their commitments to effectively implementing the SDGs with a view to “leaving no one behind”.
Meanwhile, DPM also attended the High-Level Lunch on Partnership for Implementation of the SDGs hosted in the UN Headquarters by Lykketoft, where the latter highlighted the need of global partnership and urged leaders to join hands for effective implementation of the SDGs.
On the same day, DPM Thapa addressed the Special Session of the UNGA on the World Drug Problem convened at the UN Headquarters in New York since 19 April 2016.
Drug abuse posing serious threat to civilization
In his address, DPM Thapa said that drug abuse is a “multi-dimensional problem” across the globe, posing a serious “threat to our civilization”. He added that Nepal had a strong policy framework as well as robust institutional mechanism to counter this problem. While mentioning that Nepal was doing her level-best to address drugs problems, he stressed the need of enhanced cooperation from the international community as envisioned in the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Earlier, the DPM held a bilateral meeting with Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, and exchanged views on further strengthening the Nepal-United Nations relations.
Similarly, he inspected the Consulate General of Nepal in New York Thursday evening. RSS
