{"id":3035,"date":"2019-04-08T12:42:18","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T12:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/?p=3035"},"modified":"2019-04-08T12:53:39","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T12:53:39","slug":"nepal-to-welcome-2-million-tourists-in-2020-ambassador-sewa-lamsal-adhikari-draft-of-speech-food-festival-islamabad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/nepal-to-welcome-2-million-tourists-in-2020-ambassador-sewa-lamsal-adhikari-draft-of-speech-food-festival-islamabad\/","title":{"rendered":"Nepal to Welcome 2 Million Tourists in 2020-Ambassador Sewa Lamsal Adhikari-Draft of Speech @ Food Festival Islamabad"},"content":{"rendered":"

03 April 2019
\nHis Excellency Mr. Tehmina Janjua, Foreign Secretary of the Islamic Republic of\u00a0Pakistan<\/p>\n

Honourable Ministers and Members of the Parliament<\/p>\n

H.E. Mr. Sirtaj Aziz Former Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs
\nExcellencies,
\nMr.Maurizio Romani, General Manager of Marriott Hotel
\nFriends from media,
\nDistinguished Guests,
\nLadies and Gentlemen<\/p>\n

Namaste, Assalamwalekum and Good Evening!
\nIt is my profound privilege to welcome all of you to this Nepalese Food Festival\u00a0event in Islamabad to celebrate the 60th\u00a0year of Nepal-Pakistan bilateral relations.<\/p>\n

On behalf of the Embassy of Nepal, and on my own, I warmly welcome all of you\u00a0and extend my profound gratitude for giving us your valuable time.<\/p>\n

We have amongst us Her Excellency Ms. Tehmina Janjua, the Foreign Secretary of\u00a0the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as our Chief Guest. I request you all to welcome\u00a0Her Excellency with a big round of applause for not only being our chief guest\u00a0tonight but also for her outstanding accomplishments as the Foreign Secretary of\u00a0Pakistan, and in particular, being the first woman Foreign Secretary of the\u00a0country.<\/p>\n

I extend my sincere gratitude to you Madame for your continued support to the\u00a0Embassy of Nepal and your contribution to strengthen Nepal-Pakistan bilateral
\nrelations during your tenure. I have always seen your work with high respect and\u00a0tried to enlighten myself from your professional acumen. I wish you a happy and\u00a0productive retired life ahead.<\/p>\n

I welcome the famous Kutumba Band from Nepal, a known icon of traditional\u00a0Nepali instrumental music. I am particularly thankful to the Kutumba team for\u00a0accepting the Embassy\u2019s invitation and travelling a long journey from Nepal to\u00a0make this event possible. I am eager to see your outstanding performances and\u00a0wish all of you a pleasant and memorable stay in Pakistan.<\/p>\n

I also thank to Islamabad Marriott Hotel for sponsoring our events and hosting us\u00a0all tonight. I am particularly grateful to Mr. Maurizio Romani, General Manager of\u00a0the Islamabad Marriot Hotel and his team for their hard work.<\/p>\n

It will not be fair if I don\u2019t express my words of appreciation to the Nepal Embassy\u00a0team, in particular DCM Mr. Paras Pandit for his tireless efforts, day and night,\u00a0without which this event would not have been possible. I thank you team Nepal,\u00a0keep up the spirit, and save your energy for other events as well!<\/p>\n

Excellencies,
\nI have enjoyed varieties of food and warm hospitality in Pakistan. In many events,\u00a0I was asked by host about Nepali food. I tried to explain some food items to them,\u00a0but it was very difficult for me to make them understand fully.<\/p>\n

Those curious people inspired me to organize this event. Let me confess that it is\u00a0impossible to bring all tastes and flavors of Nepali food as we have varieties of\u00a0food depending on the cultures, ethnicity, location and region. However, we have
\ntried to bring some of the common items in Pakistan. I am delighted to inform you\u00a0that to prepare the authentic Nepalese food for this event, an experienced chef from\u00a0Nepal has already arrived in town.<\/p>\n

After this event in Islamabad, the Embassy of Nepal is hosting a similar event in\u00a0Karachi and Lahore as well. Today’s event and other upcoming events are our\u00a0humble efforts to enhance people to people contacts.<\/p>\n

Distinguished Delegates,
\nSince this is on the onset of Nepal-Pakistan bilateral relations, allow me to briefly\u00a0touch upon our bilateral relations. On 20 March 1960, Nepal and Pakistan\u00a0established diplomatic relations. Pakistan is the 20th country in the comity of\u00a0nations with whom Nepal has established diplomatic relations.<\/p>\n

Our relations are based on eternal friendship, utmost goodwill and sovereign\u00a0equality. Nepal highly values Pakistan\u2019s understanding in Nepal’s political\u00a0development and its unconditional support to Nepal. We share common views in\u00a0many international and regional forums including, the UN, NAM, G77 and\u00a0SAARC.<\/p>\n

The foundation of our relations can be linked to the formation of the Himalayas\u00a0itself. The roots of our civilization dates back to the birth of Gautam Buddha, an\u00a0epitome of peace, and the founder of the Gandhara civilization. The connection\u00a0of Mount Everest and K2, as well as Lumbini and Taxila are the living testimonies\u00a0of our friendship.<\/p>\n

These geographical, historical, and cultural links have been further nurtured by the\u00a0leaderships of both countries. The visit of the then Prime Minister, His Excellency\u00a0Mr. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, as the first foreign dignitary of the incumbent
\ngovernment of Nepal as well as visits of the Chief of Army Staff from both\u00a0countries in 2018 remained fundamental in cementing bilateral ties. Furthermore,\u00a0frequencies of visiting delegates from both sides including, politicians,\u00a0academicians, senior officials, diplomats, researchers, journalists, as well as sports\u00a0teams have increased over the years.<\/p>\n

Ladies and Gentlemen,
\nThis is the beginning of a celebration. I am hopeful for the meetings of bilateral\u00a0mechanisms and high level visits in the days ahead. Let me share with you that\u00a0Nepal attaches top priority to promote tourism, among others. We are celebrating\u00a0Visit Nepal Year 2020 and have set a target to welcome two million tourists in the\u00a0country.\"\"In this context, I extend my cordial invitation to all of you to visit Nepal. I assure\u00a0you that you will enjoy your stay in Nepal, which is a well-known paradise for\u00a0tourists since ancient time.<\/p>\n

I look forward to work with all stakeholders in Pakistan who are interested to\u00a0promote tourism in Nepal. There are many areas where we can collaborate. For\u00a0example, the Sherpas of Nepal, who are known for their professionalism in
\nmountaineering, have been contributing to promote bilateral tourism.<\/p>\n

Recently, we have seen Mr. Sandeep Lamichhane\u2019s cricket matches, who became\u00a0once man of the match in recently held Pakistan Super League. There is a huge\u00a0potential for collaboration between the music fraternities of both countries. In my\u00a0view, these are very powerful elements to enhance people to people relations.<\/p>\n

The Embassy of Nepal looks forward to promoting sports, arts and cultures, as well\u00a0as exchange programmes with the support of concerned stakeholders. It may be a\u00a0little out of context, but I also take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude\u00a0to the delegates of participating countries and our development partners for their\u00a0participation and commitment during the Nepal Investment Summit held in
\nKathmandu last week.<\/p>\n

Last but not the least, I am thankful to my friends from the media, for giving Nepal\u00a0a priority in broadcasting their news and views and highlighting our bilateral\u00a0relations in a positive manner.<\/p>\n

Finally,
\nI feel truly privileged to be a part of this celebration in such a commemorating\u00a0year. With the passage of time, our friendship has become more matured and\u00a0stronger. I congratulate both countries for this enduring friendship.
\nFinally, I hope to see continued peace, progress and prosperity in Pakistan and\u00a0wish all the best for Naya Pakistan. I thank you all once again.<\/p>\n

Enjoy the evening with delicious Nepali food and music.
\nLong live Nepal-Pakistan friendship.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

03 April 2019 His Excellency Mr. Tehmina Janjua, Foreign Secretary of the Islamic Republic of\u00a0Pakistan Honourable Ministers and Members of the Parliament H.E. Mr. Sirtaj Aziz Former Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Excellencies, Mr.Maurizio Romani, General Manager of Marriott Hotel Friends from media, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen Namaste, Assalamwalekum and Good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,3,46],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3035"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3035"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3039,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3035\/revisions\/3039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}