Nepal has sought British support under its two windows—British International Investment (BII) and British Investments Partnership (BIP). The request was made during the sixth meeting of Nepal-United Kingdom Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) in London that concluded Wednesday.

The two sides also discussed utilisation of the investment windows such as British International Investment (BII) on various fronts including renewable energy and information and communication sector, as well as possibility of channelizing more resources from British Investments Partnership (BIP), according to a statement issued by the Nepali Embassy in London. Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal and the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) Sir Philip Barton led the respective delegation in the meeting.

They also had a productive discussion on a range of topics including marking of the centenary of the Friendship Treaty, exchange of high-level visits, bilateral cooperation, among other matters, said the statement.

The two sides agreed to work towards further consolidating and widening cooperation and engagements in productive sectors such as trade, investment, energy and tourism, said the statement adding, “it was also agreed that scaling up investment in Nepal’s clean energy would not only foster economic growth but would also help address the agenda of climate change.”

“The two sides renewed their willingness to cooperate on various matters of common interest at multilateral forums, such as advancing the agendas of climate change, poverty alleviation, and sustainable development, among others. The United Kingdom appreciated Nepal’s contribution to the UN peacekeeping as the second largest troops providing country currently.”

In the meeting, the two sides reviewed the overall state of Nepal-UK relationship and deliberated on enhancing the engagements in various areas of mutual interest.

The delegations exchanged views on the over two centuries-old friendship and cooperation, and took stock of the progress made in major aspects of the bilateral relations, including development cooperation and priorities, trade, investment and tourism, education and human resource development, consular matters and people-to-people linkages, the British Gurkha issues, climate change and sustainable development as well as working together on agendas of mutual interest in multilateral forums, the embassy said.

The meeting reviewed the ongoing talks on ex-Gurkha issues and agreed to continue discussion towards addressing their grievances.

The UK side highlighted the changing shape of UK’s development cooperation portfolio and shared the priority areas of future cooperation to Nepal that would include support in transition to middle income country and progress towards sustainable development goals, help in mobilising investment and climate finance, support in expanding access to education, in particular girls’ education.

Nepali side appreciated the valuable development cooperation provided by the United Kingdom as one of the largest development partners and emphasized the need for continuity and enhancement of such support at a critical time of graduation from the least developed country status, the statement added.