Kathmandu, 30 September: The third meeting of Nepal-Canada Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) was held in Ottawa yesterday. Bharat Raj Paudyal, Foreign Secretary, and Paul Thoppil, Assistant Deputy Minister of Global Affairs Canada, led their respective delegations to the meeting. During the meeting, the two sides discussed a wide range of matters of bilateral interest that included development cooperation, trade and investment, education, culture, and tourism as well as environment and climate change, among others. The Foreign Secretary shared with the Canadian side about Nepal’s development priorities, graduation from the LDC category and the efforts made towards meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals. He underscored the need of enhanced level of cooperation from Canada in terms of resources and technology for Nepal’s smooth and sustainable transition from the LDC status. The Canadian side expressed its readiness to support Nepal in its development pursuits and highlighted its feminist international assistance policy. Citing the contribution made by Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in Asia II (CFPS II) in the financing of Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower project, the Foreign Secretary called for more investment and technology from Canada in Nepal’s hydropower, a vital source of clean energy. Views were exchanged on continuing collaboration in various multilateral forums, including the United Nations, on matters of common interest such as climate change and UN peacekeeping. The two sides shared their perspectives on various matters of global importance. The Foreign Secretary highlighted the successful conduct of the recent local elections in Nepal as well as the forthcoming provincial and federal elections as importance democratic exercise and steps towards further consolidating democracy in Nepal, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. People’s News Monitoring Service