Nepal has urged Ireland to relax travel restrictions on the country, a year after it was hit by a devastating earthquake.

Acting Nepali Ambassador to Ireland Tej Bahadur Chhetri made the request in a meeting with Asia Pacific Deputy Director at Ireland’s Foreign Ministry.  

Ireland had issued travel warnings to its citizens following the earthquake of April 25, 2015. Though UK and US lifted the travel warnings to visit Nepal, Ireland had only partially lifted the restrictions.

According to Chhetri, he also urged the Irish officials to put Nepal in priority list of Ireland’s Oversees Development Programme (ODP), form an all-party parliamentary committee and consultation mechanism before organising a ‘Nepal conference’ to mark the one-year anniversary of the devastating quake.  

Altogether 11 countries are currently receiving the Irish aid.

Along with Chhetri, UK representative of Nepal Tourism Board Pashupati Bhandari, Ireland representative of Nepal Tourism Board Dipesh Man Shakya and social worker Kapil Rijal were present during the meeting. Irish officials were also requested to make a high-level visit to Nepal and invest in education and health sectors of the country.

During the meeting, Chhetri also briefed on the adoption of the new constitution in Nepal and the progress made in post-quake rebuilding.