Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal left for Uganda on early Thursday morning, leading a Nepali delegation to attend the 19th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

The prime minister boarded a Qatar Airways flight at 2:15am.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Nepali delegation includes Minister for Foreign Affairs NP Saud, Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal, senior government officials and the prime minister’s daughter. The foreign minister already reached Kampala, the Ugandan capital city, and attended a ministerial meeting.

The prime minister is scheduled to address the plenary session of the summit on the theme ‘Deepening Cooperation for Shared Global Affluence’ on Friday.

He will then attend the state banquet hosted by the President of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in honour of the heads of delegation of NAM member states.

Prime Minister Dahal will have bilateral meetings with heads of state, heads of government and other high dignitaries attending the summit, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

The prime minister will return home on January 21.

Meanwhile, the Office of the President said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Purna Bahadur Khadka will look after the prime minister’s responsibilities in his absence. Defence Minister Khadka is second in rank in the Cabinet.

President Ramchandra Paudel assigned the responsibility to Khadka at Prime Minister Dahal’s recommendation, reads a statement issued by the Office of the President.