Excellencies the Heads of the State and Government

Your Excellency Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am humbled to stand here today, representing a long-standing troop and police contributing country. Having contributed over one hundred and thirty-six thousand blue helmets, without caveats, in total 45 UN peace operations, this year Nepal is celebrating the 60th year of its partnership for peace with the United Nations.

Even at the height of national difficulty, Nepal continued to provide troops and police personnel, which demonstrates our strong commitment to the principles and purposes of the UN Charter.

I pay tribute to those brave soldiers, including 73 Nepali peacekeepers, who made ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.

Excellencies,

As the nature and dynamics of conflicts around the world have become more complex and multi-dimensional, so have been the requirements and mandates of the peace operations. However, we are confronting with lack of resources and shortage of critical assets and equipment.

Ownership of the UN Security Council, unity of purpose and its undivided political commitment becomes paramount as much as clear, focused, sequenced, prioritized and achievable mandates.

Action for Peace initiative by the Secretary General is a timely reminder for shared responsibility. Its success depends on all stakeholders playing their part with a renewed commitment for sustained partnership.

In this spirit, Nepal offers world-class facilities of its training centre for improving professional capability of peacekeepers.

Caveats have detrimental impact on mandate implementation and performance as it compromises much needed operational autonomy. It is for this reason Nepal has always avoided caveats. All of us should stand firmly together in the larger interest of international peace and security.

Every conflict situation is unique and requires different answer. Political solution to conflict has no substitute. As my own country Nepal has eloquently demonstrated, a home-grown, nationally owned and led political process can deliver sustainable peace.

Full, equal, and meaningful participation of women is key to success of peace operations.

Excellencies,

Today’s event is marked by our renewed commitment to make peacekeeping work for the people,

It is a commitment to protect civilians and be responsive to the vulnerabilities of children and women,

A commitment to ensure safety of peacekeepers, and

It is a solemn commitment to uphold the trust of the people in the UN peacekeeping.

With sincere implementation of the declaration that we adopt today can make a difference in what we intend to achieve from the peacekeeping.

It is with this confidence Nepal has endorsed the Declaration.

I thank you.

(Remarks by Rt. Hon. K. P. Sharma Oli, Prime Minister of Nepal,
at the High-Level event on Action for Peacekeeping (A4P)
New York, 25 September 2018 (3-7 PM))