It is a great pleasure for me to have this opportunity to meet you, a great friend of Nepal in your beautiful and highly developed country. We, in Nepal, are watching with admiration at the great social, economic, technical, and scientific progress made by Japan within the past few decades. Nepal and Japan have a tradition of friendship and mutual cooperation at people’s as well as the government levels, that has always been exemplary in the true sense. Nepal, the homeland of the Lord Buddha, accord high value to the friendship with Japan where the Lord Buddha is revered as much as in his own birthplace.
I understand, Honorable Hashimoto-San, that the beauty and majesty of the Nepal Himalaya had fascinated you since your first visit to Nepal in 1993. Since then your visits to Nepal more than a dozen times, the last one in the March of this year, to be awarded a decoration by His Majesty the King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev are ample testimony of your great love and friendship for Nepal and its people. We highly appreciate your concern about the necessity of disaster prevention and control in Nepal. The establishment of the Water Induced Disaster Prevention Technical Centre (DPTC) in 1991 through the support of the Government of Japan was one of the recent innovative undertakings for strengthening the capability of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal and communities to cope with water-induced disasters. I am glad to note that after successfully completing its mission in the first stage of this project, we have now implemented the Disaster Mitigation Support Programme Project in cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA.
We appreciate the cooperation which you have extended to Nepal in your own way in the fields of public hygiene, medical treatment, education, and promotion of physical sport particularly, a martial art. I am glad to note that steady progress is being made in these areas where you have a sort of personal concern as well. I am confident that the contribution of an eminent personality like yourself can play a great role in exploring further avenues of cooperation between our two friendly countries in the development and utilization of Nepal’s abundant water resources, in which we are placing great hopes to alleviate the poverty of our people and promote the overall development of the country through the next century.
I would like you to express my gratitude to you, the people and the Government of Japan for the generous support and cooperation extended to the government and people of Nepal in our attempt to develop diverse sectors of our social and economic life. I am looking forward to enhancing cooperation at both the peoples’ and the government levels in the future that lies ahead of us. We truly believe that together we can make a difference for the better.
During the visit of Prime Minister of Nepal, Japan has agreed to provide bilateral assistance to develop Trishuli and Kulekhani_III projects. I hope things are in order to materialize these projects. Finally, on behalf of the Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Former Prime Minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, I would like to extend my best wishes to you, a good friend of Nepal.
