Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Nepalese Government on support for (a) economic growth and (b) tourism in that country.

​I met Foreign Minister Gyawali twice last year in Kathmandu and at the UN in New York to discuss a range of issues, including economic growth and tourism, which are vital for the Government of Nepal to realise its ambition to become a middle-income country by 2030. My officials supported a visit by the Finance Minister on 20-22 February 2019. The UK and Nepal have a friendly and long-standing relationship, and we have offered support for Nepal's Visit Nepal 2020 campaign, sharing expertise from our own GREAT Britain campaign. We are also in the final stages of negotiating a Double Taxation Agreement with Nepal to promote British investment.