US Deputy Secretary Verma pledges helicopters to Nepal for disaster relief

Kathmandu, Aug 17 (PTI) The US government would gift two sky-trucks and two additional helicopters to the Nepal Army to strengthen the Himalayan nation’s disaster preparedness capabilities, it was announced here on Saturday.

US Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Rahul Verma, who was on a day-long visit to Kathmandu on Friday, pledged this during his meeting with Foreign Minister Arzu Deuba Rana, according to Yek Raj Pathak, her press advisor.

Separately, Deuba Rana also wrote in a post on X: “Thank you @DepSecStateMR and the US Department of State for the generous gift of 2 skytrucks and 2 additional Bell helicopters to support disaster management efforts in Nepal.”

Earlier, the Nepal Army had requested US support to acquire two helicopters during Chief of Army Staff Prabhuram Sharma’s visit to the United States in February this year.

During his day-long visit, Verma met Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli as the high-level meetings mainly focused on “US support for Nepal’s aspirations to build a sustainable, inclusive future and on strengthening the US-Nepal partnership,” according to the US Embassy sources.

Foreign Minister Rana said that the meetings touched on various aspects of Nepal-US relations, particularly in the realm of development cooperation.