Nepal and Norway have cooperated for many years. It started from people to people cooperation at grassroots level. And, this year (2023) we are celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations. Nepal is a partner country for Norway, which means that Nepal is a superior country for our development cooperation and our annual assistance to Nepal amounts to approximately $30m.
What are the Norwegian development priorities in Nepal? Our main focus for cooperation are education, renewable energy and good governance. These are main sectors and these are in line with the priority of the government of Nepal. And, of course, gender equality and climate change are always on top of our agenda. Those are cross cutting issues that we always have to take into account in everything we do. How do you see the results of the Norwegian investment in the education sector in Nepal? I would like to comment on Nepal for the significant progress when it comes to access to education. Almost all children in Nepal go to school now and I think something that I am really proud of. Norway is advocating in the sector of clean energy. What are the objectives of investing in clean energy? Nepal has a huge potential for hydropower. And back home in Norway, hydropower has been a driver for industrialization and economic growth. And, I hope that hydropower for Nepal will also be a driver for economic growth and job creation. And, of course, Nepal is a country which is very vulnerable to climate change. Renewable and clean energy are crucial parts of the solution. Norway was supporting the people from the marginalized communities. However, we don't see such support continuing. Can you tell us why the embassy is not prioritizing the marginalized communities now? I would say that we still support marginalized communities. We do this through Norwegian NGOs. Many Norwegian NGOs support Nepali NGOs. We also do this through the support of the United Nations in Nepal with this common goal of ‘Living No One Behind’. We support inclusive education, which is particularly important for children from marginalized communities. So, I would say that marginalized communities are very much the target group for our cooperation with Nepal. Nepal’s federal governance system has been moving from the first five year’s electoral cycle to the second cycle. How do you see the implementation of federalism in Nepal? How is Norway cooperating to strengthen Nepal’s federalism? Norway is not a federal state, but a lot of power is decentralized to the local governments. And, if federalism is to succeed in Nepal, it's important that local and provincial governments are able to deliver good services to the people. And, I think that if you visit municipalities in Norway, you would find lots of similarities in the tasks and responsibilities of local governments in Nepal and Norway. Although some of our municipalities are very small, for instance our municipality called Utsira municipality, they have only 188 inhabitants. And I don’t think you have any municipalities with so few inhabitants. We continue to cooperate when it comes to good governance. And, the aim is to make the governance system effective and efficient. How does the parliamentary system function in Norway? Does Norway implement any program to strengthen Nepal’s parliamentary system? I believe that it is also important for parliament to engage with citizens. They should be open and transparent. Parliaments are very important because they are democratically elected assemblies that represent the people. And, in Norway, there is lots of transparency and openness in our parliament. We have journalists in parliament. They can go there every day if they want to. They can move freely around. We always have TV cameras when there is a parliamentary debate. And, we also have a gallery for the general public if they would like to sit down and follow the debates in parliament. Because, we value openness and transparency. Norway is cooperating with the parliament in Nepal. We have a project with UNDP called the ‘Parliamentary Support Project’. Norway has been supporting Nepal to promote good governance. However, the Transparency International’s report shows Nepal’s service delivery has not progressed much. How do you see this? What are your suggestions to promote good governance in Nepal? I believe that transparency and good governance are important foundations for development. And, also strong institutions prevent individuals from abusing power for their own gain. That is why Norway is one of the donors to the provincial and local government support program. That is about capacity building and building stronger institutions. Nepal is one of the countries severely affected by climate change. This year, in the COP27, countries decided to establish a loss and damage fund. Countries like Norway need to support such funds. What is your response? Norway’s ambition is to continue to be a leader in climate finance. And, we support the establishment of a fund for loss and damage at COP27. We see this as a very important outcome of COP27, although there are still some modalities which would have to be worked out. From the Norwegian perspective, it should be a common global responsibility to support those countries which have contributed very little to climate change but they face the harsh reality.
