Finland's Ambassador met Nepalese Minister for Women and Children

Ambassador Pertti Anttinen met Honourable Minister Tham Maya Thapa, Minister for Women Children and Senior Citizens, on Monday 22 July at the Minister’s office at the Ministry.

Ambassador Anttinen briefed the Minister Thapa about Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU and Finland's coinciding role as an EU Gender Champion from July to the end of December. They also discussed Finland’s on-going bilateral cooperation programmes in Nepal.

The Ambassador informed the Minister that gender equality and women’s empowerment is one of the key pillars for Finland’s development cooperation policy and one of the main areas in which Finland is supporting the Government of Nepal through UN Women – one of the key strategic partners of Finland.

He assured the Minister about his commitment to promote gender equality and women empowerment issues in Nepal during his tenure as an EU Gender Champion and asked for the Ministry’s collaboration for any possible areas or events.

Similarly, Minister Thapa briefed Ambassodor Anttinen about her Ministry’s strategic priorities and activities concerning gender equality and women's empowerment. She gracefully expressed her appreciation for the support that the Government of Finland is providing to the Government of Nepal in various sectors and expressed her wish of continuing strong collaboration and support for the coming years.

For the Ministry, women’s economic and social transformation in parallel to political participation is the key agenda, she added. The Minister also informed the Ambassador about the Nepalese Government’s recent initiative to celebrate 16 Jestha (30 May) as the annual National Women’s Rights Day with specific theme in focus.

This year’s celebration is the first one and celebrated as the ‘The Year of Violence Against Women’ theme.

Webpage link to Finland's cooperation in Nepal(Link to another website.)