UN General Assembly
2021

I feel happy to share with this audience our belief that unity in vast diversity is Nepal’s strength. Thanks to our democratic culture and harmonious way of life, the Nepali people’s resilience in the face of hardship and suffering has remained exemplary, as seen most recently in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes of 2015 and the COVID-19 pandemic. As I stand here today, my thoughts go back to 1960, when the first elected Prime Minister of Nepal, the late Bishweswar Prasad Koirala, addressed the General Assembly, saying, “As we look at the world, we find that it is the economic disparity between countries, as between the rich and the poor people within the nation, that is the source of much friction and tension” (A/PV878, p.255). “The main function of the United Nations at the present moment is the creation, or recreation, of a climate of confidence and trust” (ibid., p.254).