Tomorrow, on 8 February, Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, will travel to Nepal for a one-day official visit, the first European Commissioner since 2015, to reaffirm the strong partnership between the EU and Nepal and launch with Germany, Finland and France, the Team Europe Initiative on Green Recovery under Global Gateway aimed at boosting its green recovery from the pandemic.
Funded with more than €200 million for 2021-2024, including €142 million from the EU budget and over €60 million from Finland and Germany, this initiative will contribute to Nepal’s efforts to create green growth and jobs. It will support small farmers and its agro-forestry sector, increased energy access and other vital services for the population such as water supply, sanitation and nutrition services as well as education, while fostering increased participation of women in leadership and the economy. This includes for example financing a transmission line to bring hydropower electricity to local communities as well as improved water and sanitation infrastructure.
She will meet President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister Puspa Kamal and Foreign Minister Bimala Rai Poudel. She will also meet with civil society organisations and members of the EU Youth Sounding Board, the first youth advisory structure established in Asia to discuss the EU’s Youth Action Plan, as well as representatives from the business community and International Financial Institutions.
Commissioner Urpilainen will visit the Human Milk Bank at the Paropakar Maternity and Women’s hospital and launch a new nutrition support programme to further improve maternal, adolescent and child nutrition in the country. At a high-level conference on primary and secondary education, she will also launch EU support worth €50 million to Nepal’s new education sector plan. This marks 20 years of EU support to increase access to education for boys and girls and a new era to increase the quality of education in Nepal.
