Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is preparing to embark on his second foreign trip in July third week. He will visit Italy to attend a function organized by the United Nations and the government of Italy.

The prime minister will participate at the UN Food Systems Stocktaking Moment that will take place in Rome on July 24-26, on the premises of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN agency that works to fight hunger.

The prime minister has already instructed the officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prepare the groundwork for the visit, an aide to the prime minister said. A senior official at the foreign ministry also confirmed that the prime minister has expressed his desire to participate in the function and preparations are underway, accordingly.

The Rome event will serve as the first global follow-up to the 2021 Food Systems Summit, where more than 50,000 people, including 77 heads of state and government from 193 countries, committed to accelerating and deepening the transformative power of food systems, for the full realization of all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Earlier the prime minister paid an official visit to India from May 31 to June 2.

Similarly Minister for Foreign Affairs NP Saud is visiting Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan next week to attend the ministerial meeting of the coordinating bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement countries. Nepal is a founding member of the movement. The meeting is scheduled to take place on July 5 and 6 and will be followed by a meeting between top officials.

But foreign ministry officials said visits to Nepal’s northern neighbor China are gaining momentum, with a sudden increase in the number of incoming and outgoing visits between the two countries.

At present, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha is in the Chinese city of Chengdu, where he attended the 19th Western China International Fair (WCIF) as chief guest on Thursday. On Friday he visited Sichuan University and urged Chinese officials to increase scheduled flights to the newly built Pokhara and Bhairahawa international airports.

Shrestha also called on Wang Xiaohui, party secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China on Thursday. Shrestha is planning to return home on Sunday evening.

After Shrestha’s return, Deputy Speaker Indira Ranamagar will fly to China on July 6 to participate in the Eco Forum Global Guiyang 2023 to be held on July 8-9. The event is themed on ecological civilisation.

This year’s event will focus on seeking modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature and promoting green and low-carbon development, according to organisers.

Deputy speaker Ranamagar said she is visiting China with three other women lawmakers and a few officials of the Parliamentary Secretariat.

Only on Tuesday, a visiting parliamentary delegation from the Tibet Autonomous Region of China met her and discussed various aspects of Nepal-China relations.

“I urged them to ensure uninterrupted movement of goods and people through the Nepal-Tibet border points,” Ranamagar told the Post.

Likewise, Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission Min Bahadur Shrestha is also visiting China to attend the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development to be held on July 5 and 6. The cabinet has approved the visit.

Earlier a delegation led by Chairman of the National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timilsina and some members of Parliament visited several Chinese cities. Similarly, a team from the CPN (Maoist Center) also completed a visit to China a few days ago.