Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Ganesh Prasad Timilsina on Tuesday held a meeting with Sir Lindsay Hoyle, speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, in London.
On the occasion, the two sides dwelt on various matters pertaining to Nepal-UK historic ties including exchange of visits between lawmakers and the grievances of former British Gurkhas, according to Timalsina's secretariat.
Chairman Timilsina appreciated the House of Commons for its continuous goodwill and support towards Nepal and the Nepali people on multiple occasions.
"The UK parliament and its parliamentarians have played important role to taking the bilateral relationship between the two countries to a greater height. British parliamentarians' solidarity with Nepali people on different occasions is much appreciated. Nepali people will always remember for a debate held in UK parliament on extending possible support to Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic," he told the UK speaker.
Timilsina also lauded the continuous goodwill of the Nepal-UK parliamentary friendship group in further deepening ties between the two friendly nations.
On a different note, Timilsina mentioned that Gurkhas in the British Army have been playing an important role in the promotion of bilateral relationship between the two countries. "Ex-Gurkhas have historic grievances related to their welfare including pensions and I hope those concerns of Gurkhas will addressed as earlier as possible. A bilateral committee is holding a dialogue on the grievances of Gurkhas very soon and it is a welcome news," he said.
The upper house chairman of Nepal also said that Nepali diaspora in UK has been contributing to nurture people-to-people ties between the two countries. "It is a matter of pride for Nepal that the number of Nepali-origin people in British politics has been increasing over the years," he said.
During the meeting, National Assembly Chairman Timilsina was accompanied by Nepal's ambassador to UK Gyan Chandra Acharya, member of the National Inclusive Commission Pushpa Raj Timalsina and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Nepali Embassy Roshan Khanal.
On October 24, Chairman of the UK-Nepal Friendship Group in British parliament Birendra Sharma and other British lawmakers held a meeting with Chairman Timilsina.
NA Chair Timilsina reached UK in the mid-October on a week-long visit after taking part at the 145th conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) held in Rwanda. Timilsina is returning home later today.
