Kathmandu, August 26. Minister for Women, Children, Gender and Sexual Minorities and Social Security, Sita Badi, and Australian Ambassador to Nepal Simon Erst paid a courtesy call on the latter’s office today.
During the meeting
, discussions were held on strengthening Nepal-Australia friendly relations and expanding cooperation in the areas of women empowerment, child rights and protection, disability inclusion, social security, care economy, human resource development and exchange of policy experience.
Minister Badi welcomed Ambassador Ernst to the Ministry and wished him a successful and happy tenure in Nepal.
Stating that Nepal and Australia continue to enjoy friendly and cordial relations since the establishment of diplomatic relations, she stressed the need of making mutual cooperation more result-oriented in the days ahead.
Minister Badi thanked Australia for its development assistance to Nepal in the areas of education, human development, good governance, gender equality and social inclusion.
The Australian-supported Micro Enterprises Development Programme (HMVY) has made significant contribution to enhancing skills, entrepreneurship and financial access to poor and socially marginalized communities, especially women, Bhandari said.
“The Australian scholarship program has made significant contributions to enhance the knowledge, skills and professional capacity of Nepali students, researchers, professionals from different sectors and government employees,” she said, adding that the scholarship program has had positive impact on policy formulation, implementation and public service delivery. The meeting also discussed the issues of protection, development and inclusion of children with disabilities.
Minister Badi said Australia’s experience and technical knowledge would be useful in expanding access to assistive technologies for children with disabilities, strengthening disability data and information systems, and institutional capacity building.
Referring to the interrelationship between social protection and the care economy, Minister Badi said that the contribution of women in the household and care sector needs to be recognized and evaluated economically.
Stating that a policy on national economic promotion was being formulated in Nepal incorporating issues including development of care economy and economic calculation of women’s household and care work, she expressed the belief that Australia’s policy experience, practice and technical knowledge would be useful in this sector.
Minister Badi also stressed that Nepal-Australia relations should not be limited only to development cooperation but should be taken forward as a mutual partnership with transfer of technology and policy experience, institutional capacity development and expansion of people-to-people relations. During the meeting, Ambassador Earnest expressed the importance of the existing Nepal-Australia cooperation and expressed positive views on making it more effective in areas of mutual interest and priority. Minister Badi welcomed Ambassador Ernst back to Nepal and wished him a successful tenure and a pleasant stay in Nepal.
प्रतिक्रिया दिनुहोस्
