Robert Piper new UNDP Rep in Nepal

Kathmandu, Mar 12: Robert Piper, an Australian National, is appointed Resident Representative of United Nations Development Programme in Nepal.
According to a statement from the UN Information Centre in Kathmandu, Mr Piper joined the office yesterday after presenting credentials from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to Sahana Pradhan, Minister for Foreign Affairs Nepal.

"I feel privileged to be taking up this assignment at such a historic time" Mr Piper said. "Perhaps more than ever in our 40-year history in Nepal, the UN's development and humanitarian organizations has a critical role to play in lending our expertise, energies and resources to the government and people of Nepal." "Peace and development are the two sides of the same coin," he said. UN is monitoring the peace process and arms and weapons of the Maoists in Nepal after the peace deal signed between the seven parties and the Maoists.

Election to the Constituent Assembly is taking place on April 10 as part of the peace deal among the major political parties of the Himalayan Kingdom.

UNI