Ambassador of Israel to Nepal Hanan Goder on Wednesday handed over a speech transcript of the late prime minister BP Koirala to President Ramchandra Paudel.

Paudel received the historical document of the late Koirala’s 1960 inaugural speech at the International Conference on Science in the Advancement of New States from Ambassador Goder at Sheetal Niwas.

According to Paudel’s Press Adviser Kiran Pokharel, Goder said that the transcript was retrieved with a lot of effort.

In the speech, Koirala talks about democracy, the inability of third-world countries to adopt the system, and the need to not only embrace the structure but also to work to bring about a change.

“Unlike African and other Asian nations, Nepal has not fallen victim to imperialism and colonialism. Those nations did not just lose their identity but also became a victim to external forces,” Pokharel quoted the late Koirala as saying in his speech.

“The newly democratic, sovereign and independent African and Asian nations, including Nepal, have to face new challenges, with poverty being the most crucial. If the countries that have only recently embraced democratic systems fail to solve the problem of poverty in time, freedom and sovereignty will have no meaning. On the other hand, a dictatorial system and communism will give rise to poverty.”

The President thanked Goder for the written copy while also acknowledging the Israeli government’s support to Nepal in the sectors of employment and agriculture, Pokharel said.

BP Koirala paid an official visit to Israel in 1960 after the establishment of diplomatic ties between Israel and Nepal earlier that year.