Ambassador Milan Hovorka was privileged of calling on Hon'ble Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nepal Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Hon'ble Minister of Finance Yuba Raj Khatiwada and Hon'ble Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barshaman Puno Anantao.  He also met with Maha Prasad Adhikari, Executive Director of the Investment Board Nepal.

 

 

He was pleased to note that all the meetings saw converge on the interest of both countries to do more to enhance bilateral relations and promote economic cooperation. The Ambassador reaffirmed his country support to democratic process in Nepal and its economic and social development. He also appreciated the steps taken recently by the Nepalese authorities to promote foreign direct investment and ease of doing business. He made a commitment to inform his authorities about current economic and foreign direct investment scenario and to encourage Czech companies to take more pro active stand towards the possibility of engaging in some of investment projects anounced at the Investment Summit Nepal 2019. The Ambassador considers the energy sector and in particular renewables as particularly promising areas for mutual interactions between the two countries.

 

 

The two sides also agreed on the need to activate the work of the Joint Committee between the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of Finance of Nepal with the aim of having the first session of the Committee in this year (2019)

 

 

The Czech Republic has been a very reliable humanitarian and development assistance partner of Nepal over the last couple of years. It has helped Nepal in strongest terms after a disasterous earthquakes in 2015, but has also been implementing a number of development assistance projects since then. It is therefore only logic that the Ambassador met with the partners who are doing great job to help Nepal deal with certain specific challenges. In this context, the Ambassador visited headquarters of  People In Need in Kathmandu. During his interactions with representatives of the Czech Republic-based non-governmental and non-profit organization, he expressed gratitude for the great humanitarian efforts deployed by Czech people after the destructive earthquake.

 

 

Mr. Hovorka also attended the official inauguration of the elementary school Bindhabasini in Naya Gaon, which was destroyed during terrible earthquake in 2015. Being impressed by the amount of work done, the Ambassador expressed his sincerest gratitude to the entire team of Namasté Nepal for all they have been doing to enable Nepalese children to transform their dreams and aspirations into reality and use fully their talent.  "It was aparent from reactions of local people how much they value this gesture of solidarity and generosity of Czech people brought to the village by Namasté Nepal. And there are also many volunteers. I thank them all for their human approach," said the Ambassador on this occasion.

 

 

Opened jointly by the Czech Republic’s Embassy in Delhi and VFS Global, the Czech Visa Application Centre in Kathmandu is set to promote people-to-people contacts and facilitate visa application process.  With the opening of this centre, citizens of Nepal travelling to the Czech Republic would no longer have to travel to Delhi to submit the application for Schengen Visa. 

 

 

During the entire visit, the Ambassador was accompanied by Honorary Consul General of the Czech Republic in Kathmandu Vishnu Kumar Agarwal who is doing extremely well to represent the Czech Republic in Nepal and promote the two countries´relations. "The Czech Republic does have too many Honorary Consuls accross the globe. However, it does not have too many Honorary Consuls General. The elevation of Mr. Agarwal to this position was taken some times ago to recognize  his outstanding contributions and commitment," recalled the Ambassador on this occasion.