KATHMANDU – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Purna Bahadur Khadka, returned home today after attending the United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial meeting held in Accra of Ghana.
The Deputy Prime Minister attended the Conference leading a Nepali delegation which also comprised of senior officials from the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nepali Army in the event held on December 5-6.
The meeting held discussions on the vivid aspects relating to the international peacekeeping and also reviewed achievements so far. It pledged to strengthen the UN peacekeeping operations.
The meeting themed ‘Peace Begins with Me’ was attended by high-level delegations from 90 countries. The participating ministers expressed their commitment and political support to the UN peacekeeping.
Nepal has been contributing to the UN peacekeeping missions aiming to establish international peace and stability since 1958 and currently 6,278 Nepali armies are serving in 16 UN peacekeeping missions. Nepal remains as the second largest contributor to the peacekeeping mission and the first country to send female peacekeepers. So far, 86 Nepali have attained martyrdom in course of serving in the UN peacekeeping missions while 66 have been injured.
Talking to media, the Deputy Prime Minister said the UN specially acknowledged Nepal’s participations in the mission. During the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Khadka said that Nepal was always positive to UN efforts for improvement, committed to implementing the ‘Action for Peace’ and ‘Action of Peace Plus’ initiatives launched by the UN Secretary-General, and the Government of Nepal and the Nepali Army were always committed to security of Nepali citizens.
He apprised the meeting that Nepal was ready to unconditionally send its armies to any conflict-hit countries in the world at the call of the UN.
Stating that Nepali Army was disciplined, professional and competent, he said Nepal had adopted a zero tolerance against sexual abuse and exploitation. He had left for Ghana in the evening of December 3.
