Kathmandu- The flag of the African nation Zambia has been hoisted on the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest. Three and a half decades after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Nepal and Zambia, Zambia has hoisted the flag of the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest. Honorary Consul of Nepal to Zambia, Deshbandhu Basnet informed that Nepali mountaineer Phurba Ongel Sherpa hoisted the Zambian flag on the highest peak, Mount Everest.
At 4:58 a.m. on May 15, he climbed the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest. Basnet said that the purpose of hoisting the Zambian flag on Mount Everest was to draw attention to the strengthening of bilateral trade and bilateral relations between the two countries.
Nepal and Zambia established diplomatic relations on September 10, 1986. The Embassy of Nepal in Pretoria, South Africa has given official recognition to Zambia and the Embassy of Zambia in New Delhi has given official recognition to Nepal.
The then King Mahendra visited Zambia to attend the Third NAM Summit from September 10 to 12, 1970. Nepal and Zambia are members of the United Nations, NAM, G-77, and WTO. Both countries are Least Developed (LDC) and Land Lock (LLDC) and have shared similar views on many agendas of global development cooperation and partnership.
Both countries are contributing to the UN peacekeeping mission. As of November 2017, Nepal has 5,353 troops and Zambia has 1,128 troops contributing to the UN peacekeeping mission. So far, however, bilateral trade between Nepal and Zambia has been negligible.
Zambia is a peaceful and politically stable country. The political transfer of power in Zambia took place in 1991 through multi-party elections. Zambia is one of the safest countries in Africa. Zambia has an independent press and is active in civil society and some representative groups in the economy.
