Nepal PM departs for week-long Italy visit, will participate in UN Food System Summit

Kathmandu [Nepal], July 22 : Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka 'Prachanda' on Saturday evening embarked on a week-long visit to Italy to participate in UN Food Systems Summit to be held in Rome from Monday.
PM Dahal is accompanied by his daughter Ganga Dahal along with Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Beduram Bhusal, Member of the National Planning Commission Jay Kant Raut and other senior government officials.
“The Rt Hon Prime Minister is scheduled to address the official opening session of UNFSS+2 on Monday, 24 July 2023 in the capacity of the Chair of LDC Group, including the Plenary Sessions on the agenda of School Meals on 24 July 2023 and Food System Transformation in Practice on 25 July 2023,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a release.
The Nepal PM is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with high-level dignitaries of the UN, including the director general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the executive director of the World Food Programme, and the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, among others, on the sidelines of the event.
PM Dahal will return home on July 28.
The high-level exchange of visits between Nepal and Italy comes after a gap of about a decade. In 2014, the then Foreign Minister of Italy, Benedetto Della Vedova, visited Nepal. Since then, there has been no high-level visit between the two nations.
Nepal and Italy established diplomatic relations in 1972.
Meanwhile, the Office of the President said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Purna Bahadur Khadka, will look after the PM’s responsibilities in his absence.
Defence Minister Khadka is second in rank in the Cabinet.
President Ramchandra Paudel assigned the responsibility to Khadka at Prime Minister Dahal’s recommendation, read a statement issued by the Office of the President.