Nepal to sign nuclear weapon ban treaty

Nepal will sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons this week during the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said yesterday.Nepali Deputy Prime Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who is in-charge of foreign affairs, will ink the treaty on behalf of Nepal, MoFA spokesperson Bharat Raj Paudyal said.The decision to sign the treaty shows Nepal’s commitment towards the achievement of a world free from the threat posed by nuclear weapons, the spokesperson said.Mahara also attended the high-level meeting on the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse hosted by the UN Secretary-General in New York yesterday on the margins of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). As one of the top troops and police contributing countries to UN peacekeeping operations, Nepal has expressed commitments to the Voluntary Compact against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse proposed by the Secretary-General. Meanwhile, Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was to leave for New York yesterday to attend the UN General Assembly session, Xinhua reported.The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons, with the goal of leading towards their total elimination. It was adopted at the United Nations conference on July 7.