President Bhandari receives WPL Trailblazer Award 2022

President Bidya Devi Bhandari received WPL Trailblazer Award 2022 at the Reykjavik Global Forum – Women Leaders today, the Embassy of Nepal in Copenhagen, Denmark said.

Silvana-Koch Mehrin, President and Founder of Women Political Leaders and former Vice-President of the European Parliament, presented the award to the President.

Katrίn Jacobsdόttir, Prime Minister of Iceland and Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Former President of Iceland were also present at the award ceremony.

The President dedicated the award to the Nepali women whose struggle for gender empowerment and inclusion contributed for the achievements that Nepal has made in those agendas this far.

While accepting the award, the President emphasized on Nepal’s progress and commitment on gender empowerment and Nepal’s commitment to make further progress in this area, the Embassy of Nepal in Copenhagen, Denmark said.

Earlier, the President delivered a keynote speech to the Forum and highlighted Nepal’s journey to institutionalize an inclusive democracy that has well embodied principles of human rights, equality, non-discrimination, inclusion and social transformation.

During the keynote speech, the President also underlined the challenges Nepal is facing due to climate change and called upon the international community for a transparent mechanism and fast-track provisions for resources, transfer of technology, and capacity-building support to deal with these challenges.

Later in the afternoon on the sidelines of the Forum, Prime Minister of Iceland Katrίn Jacobsdόttir called on the President.

Matters of further strengthening bilateral relations and exchanging potential cooperation in areas such as geothermal energy technology, climate change, tourism and sharing of experience in the areas of women and gender empowerment were discussed during the meeting.

Also on the sidelines, Sima Bahous, Executive Director of the UN Women, called on the President and appreciated the progress made by Nepal in women’s political empowerment and SDG indicators.

Separately, Silvana-Koch Mehrin, President and Founder of Women Political Leaders and Laura Liswood, Secretary General of Council of Women World Leaders also called on the President and discussed various experiences and issues related to gender, development and climate change.

Two famous Icelandic mountaineers who summited Sagarmatha and Lhotse also met with the President and shared their experience. The President also interacted with Icelandic and international media.

In the evening, the President attended an event hosted by Nepali diaspora in Iceland and briefly addressed the community.