BERN: The Embassy of Nepal in Geneva organized a special program titled ‘Nepal-Switzerland Friendship: Mountains and Peoples’ in Bern to celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations and mark International Mt. Everest Day.

According to an official press release issued by the embassy, the event was held in collaboration with NRNA-Switzerland.

The gathering brought together over 100 participants, including representatives from the Swiss government, ambassadors, diplomats, mountaineers, and members of the Nepali diaspora, effectively honoring seven decades of friendship alongside the iconic global peak.

During the event, Ambassador Ram Prasad Subedi highlighted the excellent bilateral relations established over the last 70 years, noting that the bond is built on a shared context of mountains and deep connections between the two peoples.

Subedi also invited participants to visit Nepal to experience its nature, culture, and adventure firsthand.

Echoing these sentiments, Ambassador Arno Wicki, the Head of the Asia and the Americas Division of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), emphasized the strong people-to-people ties, similar mountain ecosystems, and a long tradition of cooperation and partnership between the two countries.

The program featured a digital message from Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal, themed ‘Sagarmatha, the Highest Peak of the World: Identity and Pride of Nepal’, which was screened alongside a promotional video highlighting Mt. Everest and Nepal’s major tourist attractions.

Additionally, the event recognized key individuals who have fostered connections between the two nations.

Nepali and Swiss mountaineers Susmita Maskey Niraula and Julia Hamilton, development workers Dieter Elmer and Subha Elmer Lama, and a friend of Nepal, Jean Denis Jaquet, were all felicitated and shared their personal stories and experiences in Nepal.