Participation of Nepali Delegation in UNGA81 (Day 3)

Press Release

Day 3

Leading a Nepali delegation, Right Honourable Prime Minister Mr. Balendra Shah arrived in New York this morning to attend the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly. 

The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister was welcomed by H.E. Mr. Lok Bahadur Thapa, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the UN, Mr. Sharad Raj Aran, Chargé d'Affaires a.i. of the Embassy of Nepal in Washington D.C., Mr. Dadhiram Bhandari, Consul General of Nepal in New York and other Mission officials at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister is scheduled to address the General Assembly tomorrow.

In the morning, Hon. Foreign Minister Mr. Khanal addressed the High-level Meeting of the UN General Assembly commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development. In his statement, he underscored the need for stronger political will and renewed global solidarity to advance inclusive and sustainable development. He also called for accessible and concessional development finance, accelerated technology transfer, meaningful grassroots participation, and tangible support measures from developed to developing countries, among others.

At the G7 Development Ministers’ Meeting, Hon. Foreign Minister highlighted that climate change is no longer a distant threat for Nepal—it is real, accelerating, and eroding hard-won development gains. He emphasized the importance of sustained partnerships for resilient recovery, predictable, accessible climate finance, greater investment in prevention and early warning, and results-focused multilateral action. The Foreign Minister also urged global political attention to mountains as vital to regional and global climate security and the protection of these critical ecosystems.

Delivering his statement at the Leaders’ Meeting of Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF-V20), Hon. Foreign Minister Mr. Shisir Khanal underscored that climate disasters are eroding hard-won development gains and diverting scarce resources to repeated recovery and reconstruction. Hence, he stressed the importance of stronger global solidarity and cooperation, including between mountain nations and SIDS to advance climate justice through resilient development, accessible finance, early warning and green transitions.

Speaking at the Secretary-General’s High-Level Meeting on Climate Action and the Just Transition, the Foreign Minister Mr. Khanal highlighted that Nepal’s climate catastrophe is not only a humanitarian emergency, but a development, justice and existential crisis—reversing years of hard-won gains. He stressed the need to move from promises to delivery through accessible climate finance, scaled-up adaptation, early warning systems, affordable technologies, and an adequately resourced Loss and Damage Fund while calling for robust global action to keep 1.5°C goal within reach.

Hon. Foreign Minister also had bilateral meetings with His Excellency Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan; H.E. Reem Alabali Radovan, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, H.E. Ms. Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland; H.E. Ms. Elina Valtonen, Foreign Minister of Finland and HE Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations. During these meetings, the Foreign Minister discussed various issues of mutual interest including strengthening friendly and cooperative bilateral relations and Nepal’s engagements in UN peacekeeping.   

Speaking at the Climate Security Roundtable organized by the United Kingdom, Foreign Secretary Mr. Amrit Bahadur Rai underscored that climate change is profoundly inseparable from human, economic and national security, as climate disasters destroy lives, livelihoods and critical infrastructure. In this light, he underlined the urgency of accessible, affordable climate finance, climate-resilient infrastructure, multi-hazard early warning, stronger regional, global cooperation, whole-of-society preparedness and climate justice. He also attended the Meeting of G77 and China Senior Officials, which advanced the preparatory work for the Ministerial Meeting scheduled to take place tomorrow.

Permanent Mission of Nepal to UN

New York

23 September 2026