Source::RSS
Kathmandu,
Today marks the 44th Anniversary of Nepal-Qatar diplomatic friendship. Nepal and Qatar established formal diplomatic ties on 21 January 1977. Ever since its formal diplomatic engagement, Nepal and Qatar friendship has grown stronger each year, says Gopal Khanal, the author of Bhurajniti which is loosely translated as 'Geopolitics' in English.
Camaraderie built during monarchy era.
When Nepal and Qatar started formal diplomatic relationship, Nepal was under the direct rule of the then king Birendra during the party-less Panchayat system. Likewise, Qatar was under the reign of Emir Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani. Qatar had formally supported Nepal's global proposition to establish itself as the 'Zone of Peace'. Nepal's first embassy in Qatar was opened after two decades of diplomatic friendliness. On 11 July 2000, Nepal opened its embassy in Doha, the capital city of Qatar. It was during monarchy era. However, Qatar, on the other hand, established its residential embassy in Nepal only on August 2011. It was during republican era.
There is no economic match between Nepal and Qatar based on Per Capita Income. For instance, according to World Bank statistics of 2019, Nepal's GDP Per Capita Income stands around 1071.1 US Dollar. Whereas, based on World Bank statistics of 2019, Qatar has GDP Per Capita of 62,088.1 US Dollar. Despite such an enormous economic difference, Nepal and Qatar are important economic partners. Nepal is one of the main labor source countries for Qatar.
Direct flights between Kathmandu and Doha have advanced connectivity between the two countries. However, the tourism connectivity between Nepal and Qatar is not realized on full swing, said Basudev Baral, a Nepalese tourism entrepreneur from Dharan. ''We have direct flights, we have hundreds of thousands of Nepalese expats in Qatar and we have good knowledge of Qatari language and cuisine'', said Baral. He added, ''Still, people based on Qatar are not coming in good volume to our world-class natural destinations which are mainly owing to Nepal's poor preparations to lure Qataris and people on Qatar to fly to Nepal.''
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