Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka called for fair and equitable access to vaccines for everyone addressing the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday.
He also appreciated the efforts made by the international community including the United Nations system to address the challenges posed by COVID-19, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"Deepening vaccine inequality is leaving adverse socio-economic impacts in many low-income countries. Fair and equitable access to vaccines must be ensured for everyone, everywhere. People’s lives should come first. Vaccines must be declared as public goods for the benefit of people’s lives," Khadka stressed.
He highlighted the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and said that the crisis has brought the world to a grinding halt, devastated the global economy, pushed an additional 150 million people into extreme poverty, and threatened to reverse hard-earned development gains.
He also highlighted Nepal’s efforts to build a sustainable and resilient recovery from the pandemic and thanked India, China, United States, Britain, Japan and others for providing vaccines, critical medical equipment, and medicines in fight against the pandemic.
He also expressed concerns about the situation in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Libya, Syria, Yemen and the Middle East and urged all parties involved to ensure peace, security, and stability and fundamental rights and freedom of the people.
He met with Under Secretary General for Operational Support Atul Khare on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and discussed the issue of strengthening cooperation between Nepal and the UN in the field of UN peacekeeping, according to the statement.
The minister also had a bilateral meeting with his counterpart from Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani. The two ministers discussed various matters of bilateral cooperation in the fields of human resources, trade, investment and tourism.
