Hon. Prof. Dr. Puspa Raj Kadel, Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission of Nepal, delivered today Nepal’s national statement in a general debate of the 2019 High-level Political Forum (HLPF) convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York. 

In the statement, the Hon. Vice-Chairman highlighted that afterachieving the political stability and a conducive atmosphere for economic development, the Government of Nepal remainedsquarely focused on the agenda of achieving sustainable development with an overarching national aspiration of “Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali”. Underlining Nepal’s progress over the years in achieving SDGs, he said that more is needed to be done for achieving more progress. He also added that the 15th Periodic Plan along with the 25-year long-term vision was formulated to align with the broader national aspiration.

The Hon. Vice-Chairman updated the Forum on Nepal’s progress in achieving the SDGs 4, 8, 10, 13 and 16 as well as annual Goal 17 under review this year. He also highlighted gaps and challenges facing Nepal as an LDC, LLDC and mountainous country lying in the climate change hotspot. Calling the 2030 Agenda a blueprint for partnerships and international cooperation, the Vice-Chairman called for utilizing all modes of financing --public as well as private, and domestic as well as international—to meet more than USD 18 billion annual financing gap to achieve SDGs in Nepal.  

On the sidelines of the High-level/Ministerial Segment of HLPF, the Hon. Vice-Chairman also participated as a panelist in an event entitled, “Accelerating action to end forced labour, human trafficking, modern slavery and child labour” which was organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) today. On the occasion, the Vice-Chairman shared national initiatives taken by Nepal in achieving SDG8.7, as a pathfinder country of ‘Alliance 8.7’. Furthermore, he said that the Fifteenth Periodic Plan along with a longer-term vision aims at the elimination of forced labour. Action policies in this regard are also being envisioned, he added.

The 2019 HLPF which began here on 09 July 2019 is scheduled to conclude tomorrow, 18 July 2019, including its High-level/Ministerial Segment from 16-18 July 2019.