Sujata Koirala meets Nepalis and Indians in Chicago

Nepalese Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala (center in sari) with Indian and Nepali community members. Seen in the picture among others are banker Moti Agarwala, software engineer Haresh Bhatt, Indian community leader Niranjan Shah, Chicago-Delhi Sister Citi

CHICAGO: Nepalese Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala was in Chicago last week on her way to attend UNO in New York. She met members of Nepali and Indian community here.

Her main thrust was fostering closer US-Nepali relations and seeking more ingestible funds from international agencies as well as private businesses, including those haling from Nepal and India. 

Development of infrastructure, tourism and water purification were some of the areas that she said afforded great investment opportunity. She also touched upon the question of dual citizenship for Nepalis or a facility like IPO card that Indians have been issued here.

There are over 200,000 Nepalis across USA and close to 7000 in Chicagoland. An event was organized at Curry Hut in Chicago downtown. The restaurant is owned by a Nepali businessman Bala Ghimire, and he was one of the hosts. Among Indian businessmen attending the event were Niranjan Shah, Smita Shah, Moti Agarwala and Haresh Bhatt.
Marvin A. Brustin, Honorary Consul General of Nepal, welcomed the guests while Consultant Sharda Thapa touched upon the subjects that Koirala dealt with.

She spoke in English and Nepali. Earlier in the day the Foreign Minister had a private meeting with Mayor Daley to discuss matters of mutual interest to Nepal and the Chicago.

In a brief interview with India Post, Koirala said that she was for very close ties with natural ally India and that she sought India's support for economic development of Nepal.
On threat of terrorism, she said it had become a sort of global problem and "all of us together have to pool resources to address this menace."

Ramesh Soparawala
India Post News Service