The French Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs jointly hosted an official function to mark and celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations between Nepal and France.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, represented the Government of Nepal at the occasion. The Goodwill Ambassador for the 70th anniversary, Ms. Shrinkhala Khatiwada, senior officials of the Government of Nepal, members of the diplomatic community, civil society and media were also present at the occasion.
In their remarks, Ambassador François-Xavier Léger and the Goodwill Ambassador both highlighted how the Nepal France relation was deeply rooted in the people 2 people relation.
Similarly Minister Gyawali also stressed on the cultural contacts and people 2 people relation which are “nurtured by mutual love and goodwill prevalent at the grass root level of our societies”. He also talked about the collaboration at the multilateral forums, political contacts and economic aspects of the Nepal-France relationship.
The second part of the event was a musical performance by Singhini Consort with Franck Bernède on cello, Santosh Bhakta Shrestha on esraj and Bidur Rajkarnikar on tabla.
The musical pieces featured Frank in a solo performance as well as in a musical collaboration with Santosh and Bidur who incorporated esraj and tabla in this musical journey that took
the audience through time.
The musical performance was specially organized to illustrate one of the major facets of Nepal France relationship: one that is based on people 2 people relation and on partnerships.