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M. Kumar: Address to Asia Pacific Summit 2018
Written by H. E. Madhav Kumar, former Prime Minister, Government of Nepal, and Chairman of Invitation Committee, Asia Pacific Summit 2018—Nepal
Friday, November 30, 2018
Address to Asia Pacific Summit 2018, Kathmandu, Nepal, Nov. 30–Dec. 3, 2018
Honorable Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli, Heads of State and Government, Chair and Founder of UPF Madam Moon, and Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Namaste and Good Morning.
I’m highly delighted to be here among you and for the privilege of welcoming you all on behalf of the Invitation Committee of Asia Pacific Summit 2018.
This Summit and the Peace and Family Festival are organized by the Universal Peace Federation in collaboration with the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) and the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP). The summit theme—“Addressing the critical challenges of our time, interdependence, mutual prosperity and universal values”—is timely and comprehensive. It certainly is a matter of pride for us to organize such a grand summit in our beloved country, Nepal.
Many current and former heads of the states and governments, parliament speakers, and guests from 45 countries are here to make this grand event a great success. I as a chair of the committee and this summit extend a sincere gratitude to all our honorable dignitaries and guests Nepal is known as the land of the soaring peaks of the Himalayas and many special natural spices. Nepal is also a place of Lord Buddha’s peace that especially values social harmony and religious tolerance.
We have various cultural heritages and diversities as well as civil festivals that are fully celebrated even in hard times. They inspire us always and create social harmony, religious tolerance and endurance. One of the most potent features of such festivals is to deepen, widen and concretize social relations in this land of desert beauty and culture, of excellence in the art of Lord Buddha and at the edge of Mount Everest. The people of Nepal are always ready to offer hospitality to visitors from abroad. We believe in the principle “Live and let live.” Therefore we have no foes but only friends.
Peace is a prerequisite for prosperity. I’m sure that the future of Nepal is indeed bright. Our aspiration is for the development and prosperity of Nepal. Hoping for a social, economic and cultural transformation, our dream is “Happy Nepali, Prosperous Nepal.” Nepal has a glorious history and its improvements in the areas of full governance and global fraternity are quite exemplary. Thousands of years ago we could only dream of a global prospective, but the world today is turned into a global village. Interdependence has incredibly increased, and mutual prosperity has become indispensable. We feel proud to mention that the Nepali people have shown the capability and unity to control the peace process in Nepal and promulgate a model constitution within a short period of time.
Honorable guests, I believe that this visit of dignities from many friendly countries has the potential to strengthen our relations and promote connectivity, paving the way to flourishing trade and commercial activities and providing multidimensional ways of extending experience from the government to the people. Such sharing may provide inspiration to help in the fight against the global challenges of war, terrorism, poverty, illiteracy, diseases, climate change, corruption and bad government. These challenges include the degradation of social norms and values.
I believe we can cope with all these intrinsic challenges by building peace among the nations and developing connectivity. Genuinely we can exert our effort to accomplish the hoped-for achievements. I hope that the profound visions and past experiences expressed through this at this forum will help us to outline the agenda for tomorrow.
I would like to take this opportunity to commend the prime minister of Nepal, the Right Honorable K. P Oli, for his support and cooperation for this successful summit. In addition, on behalf of the Invitation Committee, I congratulate Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, founder of the Universal Peace Federation, who made this summit a reality. Let me give from the bottom of my heart my special thanks to Hon. Jose De Venecia, chair of the ICAPP, although he was not able to come here, and Dr. Thomas Walsh, president of UPF International, and Dr. Chung Sik Yong, regional group chair for UPF-Asia for their great contributions to this summit.
I highly appreciate Hon. Ek Nath Dhakal, co-chair of IAPP-Asia, for his tireless and hard work and leadership for this event to finally bear fruit.
Once again, my sincere appreciation to all the delegates, staff, media and conference organizers for investing so much for the success of this Asia Pacific Summit. I hope your stay in Nepal will be cozy and comfortable. Once again, on behalf of the committee, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude for your gracious presence and apologize for any inconvenience during your stay. Finally, at this point, I add that shanti means “peace.” Shanti, shanti, and shanti. Peace, peace, peace. Thank you very much; best wishes for a successful summit. Namaste!
To go to the 2018 Asia Pacific Summit Schedule page, click here.