His Excellency Durga Prasad Bhattarai presented his Letters of Credence as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Nepal to the Republic of Ecuador to His Excellency Jorge Gals, Acting President of the Republic of Ecuador, at a special ceremony at the Presidential building in Quito, on 28 October 2016. 

At the courtesy meeting immediately following the presentation of credentials, the Acting President congratulated and welcomed Mr. Bhattarai as Ambassador of Nepal to Ecuador and assured him of all necessary support in his efforts to expand Nepal-Ecuador bilateral relations.  

On the occasion, Ambassador Bhattarai conveyed the greetings and best wishes from the Right Honourable President Bidya Devi Bhandari, congratulated the Government of Ecuador for the successful hosting of the Habitat III conference last week, and extended best wishes for the Ecuadorean Chairmanship of the Group of 77 in 2017. 

Areas of bilateral cooperation including biodiversity, climate change, tourism as well as cooperation at the United Nations and other multilateral fora were shared at the occasion. Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs Ambassador Fernando Yepez was present during the ceremony. 

Prior to the above ceremony, Ambassador Bhattarai presented the copies of his credentials to His Excellency Guillaume Long, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 27 October. Potential areas of cooperation between Nepal and Ecuador at the bilateral as well as multilateral levels, including tourism, climate change, biodiversity, economic development, Buen Vivir, as well as matters relating to broader implementation of the Quito Declaration on Habitat and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were discussed during the meeting that followed. 

In the course of 27 and 28 October, Ambassador Bhattarai also met with His Excellency Mr. Freddy Ehlers, Minister responsible for the Buen Vivir, an innovative pursuit of Ecuador for good life, focusing on a holistic and quality human lifestyle which cannot be achieved by material affluence alone, and shared thoughts about the spiritual approach to life in the East in general and in Nepal and South Asia in particular. 

Ambassador Bhattarai also held meetings with Ambassador Bolivar Torres Cavallo, Head of South Asia division, and Dr. Jorge Patricio Palacious Porras, head of International Organizations Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and human mobility, and senior officials at the Ministry of Natural disaster management, and discussed areas of bilateral and multilateral interest and mutual cooperation between Nepal and Ecuador in the respective areas. 

At the arrangement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bhattarai also visited the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) headquarters and the 'middle of the Earth' (Latitude 0°0'0") monument while in Quito. 

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Ambassador Bhattarai was among the ten (5 residential and 5 non-residential) ambassadors to present the Credentials in Quito today. Nepal and Ecuador established bilateral diplomatic relations on 21 June 2006 and are working closely at various multilateral forums as members of the United Nations. Both Nepal and Ecuador are rich in bio diversity and world heritages. Ecuador boasts as one of the mega diverse countries in terms of the flora and fauna and climate zones and seeking to complement the material development with 'Buen Vivir' spiritual pursuit more recently. 

Ambassador Bhattarai is Permanent Representative of Nepal to United Nations and is concurrently accredited as ambassador to the Republic of Ecuador.