US PEACE CORPS RETUNS TO NEPAL AFTER SEVEN YEARS

US PEACE CORPS RETURNS TO NEPAL


Kathmandu, 11 Jan. Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator for Asia Nisha Biswal signed an inter-agency agreement to re-establish a Peace Corps program in Nepal after a seven-year absence from the country, theUS embassy said in Kathmandu Wednesday.
The news was first announced in Washington D.C. Tuesday.

The agreement was signed at a ceremony at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C., and attended by Nepali Ambassador to the United States Shankar Prasad Sharma, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert O. Blake, Jr., and returned Peace Corps volunteers from Nepal.

“We are pleased that the government of Nepal has invited Peace Corps volunteers to return and work with local Nepali communities, in collaboration with USAID, once again,” said Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams. “The partnership between Peace Corps and Nepal originated in 1962, during Peace Corps’ early years, and it is an honor and a privilege for us to have the opportunity to renew our work with Nepal.”

“USAID congratulates the Peace Corps on its return to Nepal and is excited to partner with the Peace Corps and the Government of Nepal in supporting our shared objectives of improving food security and access to healthcare for the Nepalese people. USAID and the Peace Corps just commemorated 50 years of our common legacy, as organizations established by President Kennedy to reflect the best of American Values. It is fitting that we are once again partnering in Nepal, where both agencies have a long and significant history,” said USAID Assistant Administrator for Asia Nisha Biswal.

The first group of approximately 20 Peace Corps volunteers is scheduled to arrive in Nepal later this year. The volunteers will be trained as Agriculture-Nutrition Extensionists and will work with rural communities to build local capacity in the context of President Obama’s Global Health and Feed the Future Initiatives. The Peace Corps withdrew from Nepal during a Maoist insurgency when two Nepali security guards with the US embassy were killed by then insurgents and the US Information Agency in Gyaneshwor in the capital was bombed.
Maoists are still on the US terrorist list and Maoists are now in power in Nepal.
US helped Nepal crush with massive military assistance to Royal Nepal Army and the government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba but failed in its mission.
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