Foreign Secretary Mr. Shanker Das Bairagi had a meeting with Director General of the World Trade Organization Mr. Roberto Azevêdo in Geneva. During the meeting, Foreign Secretary Bairagi stated that there need to be a proper balance between trade and development. Highlighting that all countries should be able to win from the world trading system, the Foreign Secretary said there should be a system wide support for the LDCs as they have not been able to fully utilize the special and differential provisions of the WTO regime. There is a capacity gap in them and they must be enabled so that there is a delivery in the ground on the LDC specific provisions of the WTO rules, the Foreign Secretary stressed.

Director General Roberto said that his role as the Director General has been to facilitate that LDCs benefit from the system and requested the WTO member states to engage themselves and move forward the WTO process.

Similarly, Foreign Secretary Bairagi held a meeting with Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Kate Gilmore on the side-lines of the 37th session of Human Rights Council. Foreign secretary highlighted the achievements made by Nepal in the field of human rights over the years and stressed that Nepal has remained constructively engaged with the UN human rights machinery. The Deputy High Commissioner congratulated Nepal’s election to the Human Rights Council and wished for the success in the Council. She said that OHCHR would be supportive to the wider reach out of Nepal’s achievements in the field of human rights.