Kathmandu: H.E. Simon Ernst, Ambassador of Australia to Nepal, had a courtesy call on Hon. Sita Badi, Minister of Women, Children, Gender and Sexual Minorities, and Social Security at the Ministry on August 11.
The meeting focused on strengthening the friendly relationship between Nepal and Australia and expanding cooperation in the fields of women’s 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. She mentioned that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Nepal and Australia, there has been a friendly and cordial relationship and emphasized that mutual cooperation should be made more result-oriented in the future.
Minister Badi expressed her gratitude for Australia’s development assistance to Nepal in the fields of education, human development, good governance, gender equality and social inclusion. She mentioned that the Micro Enterprise Development Program (MEDEP) operated with the support of Australia has made a significant contribution to improving the skills, entrepreneurship development and financial access of poor and socially marginalized communities, especially women.
Likewise, Minister Badi said that through Australia’s scholarship program, Nepali students, researchers, professionals from various fields and government employees have made a significant contribution to the enhancement of knowledge, skills and professional capacity.
In the meeting, the issues of protection, development and inclusion of disabled children were also discussed. Minister Badi said that Australia’s experience and technical knowledge will be useful in expanding access to assistive technology for children with disabilities, strengthening disability-related statistics and information systems, and developing institutional capacity.
Likewise, while discussing the interrelationship between social security and the care economy, Minister Badi said that it is necessary to identify and evaluate the contribution of women in the fields of household and care. Informing about the development of the care economy in Nepal and the economic calculation of women’s household and care-related work, policies are being formulated for the promotion of the national economy.
Minister Badi stressed that in the future, Nepal-Australia relations should not be limited to development cooperation but should be developed as a mutual partnership with the transfer of technology and policy experience, development of institutional capacity and expansion of people-level relations.
During the meeting, Ambassador Ernst mentioned the importance of the existing cooperation between Nepal and Australia and expressed a positive view of making the cooperation 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.
