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Press Release-Nepal elected to Chair the 2017 Contingent Owned Equipment Working Group at the United Nations

Tuesday, 17 January 2017
Location: 
New York

Nepal elected to Chair the 2017 Contingent Owned Equipment Working Group at the United Nations

Ambassador Durga Prasad Bhattarai, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations (UN) in New York was unanimously elected on 16 January 2017 as Chairman of the ‘UN Working Group on the working methods of the Contingent-Owned Equipment (COE WG)’ for 2017.

The COE WG meets every three years to review the methodology of UN reimbursement to various countries for their contributions to the UN peacekeeping operations in terms of equipment. The report of the COE WG will be the basis for an updating of the existing COE manual. 

Brigadier-General Suresh Thapa and other senior officials from Nepali Army and the Permanent Mission of Nepal in New York are participating in the meeting, now in session from 16 to 27 January.

This is the first time that Nepal has been entrusted to chair the COE WG since its establishment in 1996. Nepal has been participating in UN Peacekeeping operations since 1958 after joining the UN in 1955.

While Major (Navy) K. A. Andersen of Norway has been elected Vice-Chair of the COE WG, its three technical sub-groups (namely on major equipment, self-sustainment, and medical support) will be chaired by officials from Tanzania, Ireland and Germany at the ranks of Lieutenant-General, Colonel, and Colonel (MD) respectively.

The 2014 COE WG was chaired by Ambassador David Donoghue, Permanent representative of Ireland