KATHMANDU: Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister, Ishwar Pokharel left here today on a visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the formal invitation of UAE’s Prime Minister and Defense Minister, Mohammed bin Rashid.

While in Dubai of the UAE, the Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister will hold high-level discussions and meetings. He will also attend the ‘Dubai Air Show’ as the guest in the inauguration and the main show of the event taking place on Sunday.

Likewise, DPM Pokharel will hold meetings with the UAE’s Sheikh, the leadership of the Dubai trade society and high officials of the UAE government as well as hold discussions with various sides.

He will also be holding formal discussions with the Nepali community and foreign investors as per the Government of Nepal’s policy of prioritizing to attract foreign investment for economic prosperity.

On Monday evening, Deputy Prime Minister Pokharel is scheduled to meet and hold special discussions with the investors and business community of Nepal and various countries as well as with high officials of Dubai Chamber of Commerce on the ‘possibilities of investment in Nepal’, said Lokendra KC, the Deputy Prime Minister’s press coordinator.

The meeting is to be jointly organized by the Embassy of Nepal, Abu Dhabi and Nepali Business Council, Dubai. Dubai has been organizing the ‘Dubai Air Show’ since 1986.

Many countries have been taking this event as a show of power also. Nepal is participating in this show at the high level leadership for the first time. The Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister’s entourage includes Chief of the Nepali Army’s Eastern Division Headquarters, Major General Ananta Karki, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Central and West Asia and Africa Division, Harishchandra Ghimire, and personal joint-secretary of the DPM and Defence Minister Dipendra Shrestha.

Defense Secretary Reshmi Raj Pandey and Nepali Army Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Gaurab Tandul among the officials saw off the DPM and his entourage at the VIP lounge of Tribhuvan International Airport today. Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Pokharel will return home on November 4.