Muscat – The first meeting of bilateral consultations between the foreign ministries of Oman and Nepal was held in Muscat on Wednesday.

H E Sheikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Issa al Harthy, Undersecretary for Political Affairs in Foreign Ministry, and Sewa Lamsal, Foreign Secretary of Nepal, led the consultations. They reviewed the whole gamut of bilateral relations and expressed satisfaction with the excellent state of relations existing between Oman and Nepal since 1977.

They agreed to promote cooperation encompassing all sectors, especially exchange of high-level visits, trade, investment, economic cooperation, agriculture, energy, tourism, employment, culture, education and direct air connectivity.

The officials committed to enhance partnership in mutually agreed areas and to work together towards realising economic opportunities for mutual benefit, besides creating more opportunities to promote people-to-people engagement.

The Nepali Foreign Secretary thanked the Government of Oman for providing employment to more than 21,000 of her countrymen.

She stressed the need to explore untapped potential in economic, cultural and educational spheres and proposed establishment of meaningful collaborative partnerships, including in the private sector. She requested the Omani consultation delegation to consider establishing an embassy of Oman in Kathmandu to further consolidate the long-standing relations.

H E Harthy expressed willingness to promote cooperation between Oman and Nepal in all mutually agreed sectors and hoped to conclude pending memorandums of understanding. He underscored the potential of bilateral relations and praised the positive and hardworking nature of Nepali workers.

Earlier in the day, Sewa met H E Dr Mahad bin Said bin Ali Baowain, Minister of Labour. Discussions centred on cooperation in the field of labour and employment opportunities, among others.

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