PM Bhattarai off to Tehran to attend non-aligned summit

Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai left for Tehran, the Capital of Iran, Wednesday morning to participate in the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit scheduled for Aug 30-31.

Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai with cabinet members at the Tribhuvan International...

Leading a 14-member Nepali delegation to the summit, PM Bhattarai left for Tehran on a Qatar Airways flight at around 9:35 am.

During the summit to be attended by Heads-of-State and Prime Ministers of the NAM member countries , Nepal is expected to raise the issues of random proliferation of nuclear competition in the world and would stress on the need for continuous reduction of nuclear competition.

PM Bhattarai will meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other heads of states and governments during his visit, RSS quoted Chief Protocol Officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nirajan Man Singh Basnet as saying.

Basnet also informed that Nepali officials at the UN Mission have been asked to set timetable for other bilateral meetings of PM Bhattarai. PM will return home on September 1.

Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha, who left for Tehran last week, had said participation of Nepal, as a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), in its 16th Summit would be "significant".

DPM Shrestha said Nepal would put forth its views on peace, harmony, fraternity, stability and co-existence.

In course of the Summit, Nepal would be holding meetings with world dignitaries including UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

Meanwhile, activists belonging to various youth associations and sister organisations of various parties waved black flags at Prime Minister Bhattarai this morning while he was entering the Tribhuvan International Airport to board a flight to Tehran. nepalnews.com