NEPAL AGREES TO PARTNERSHIP ON AVIAN AND PANDEMIC

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 002150 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR SA/INS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO KSCA EAGR ECON PREL SOCI NP WHO SUBJECT: NEPAL AGREES TO PARTNERSHIP ON AVIAN AND PANDEMIC INFLUENZA; SENIOR OFFICIALS MEETING REF: A. KATHMANDU 01982 ¶B. SECSTATE 175585 ¶C. SECSTATE 180478 ¶D. KATHMANDU 02000 ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see para 3. ¶2. (SBU) Dr. Bishnu Prasad Pandit, the senior point of contact on Avian Influenza for His Majesty's Government of Nepal (ref A),informed Emboff on September 30 that Nepal agreed to be listed as a partner on the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza Statement of Core Principles (ref B). Because funding participants from Nepal to attend the October 6-7 Senior Officials' meeting "could not be managed," Pandit stated that the Ministry of Health and Population had asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to instruct the Royal Nepalese Embassy in Washington, DC to send a representative to the meeting. ¶3. (SBU) Embassy requests that organizers of the Senior Officials' meeting in Washington contact the Royal Nepalese Embassy on October 3 or 4 to encourage Nepali Washington-based participation. MORIARTY