Kathmandu: Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai is set to leave for Belgium on November 25, leading the Nepali delegation to the 16th meeting of the Joint Commission between Nepal and the European Union (EU). The meeting is scheduled to take place on 28 November 2025 in Brussels.
The delegation includes senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. Ahead of the Joint Commission meeting, Nepal and the EU will convene a session of the Sub-Commission on Development Cooperation, where both sides are expected to discuss progress and priorities in ongoing development partnerships.
During the Joint Commission meeting, Nepal and the EU will review the overall state of bilateral relations, with a focus on cooperation in regional and multilateral forums, as well as shared interests in areas such as development, trade, climate action, and good governance. While in Brussels, Foreign Secretary Rai will also hold meetings with senior EU officials to further strengthen Nepal–EU ties.
Following his engagements in Brussels, Foreign Secretary Rai will travel to Doha, Qatar, to participate in the High-level Meeting on “Forging Ambitious Global Partnerships for the Sustainable and Resilient Graduation of Least Developed Countries,” scheduled for 1 December 2025. The event is jointly organized by the Government of Qatar and the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS). The broader meeting will run from 2 to 4 December 2025.
On the sidelines of the Doha meeting, Secretary Rai is expected to meet senior officials from various UN agencies to discuss Nepal’s development trajectory and its preparations for graduation from the Least Developed Country (LDC) category in 2026. Nepal currently serves as the Chair of the Global Coordination Bureau of the LDCs.
