Climate justice tops agenda as Nepal PM Balen heads to UN after deadly floods

KATHMANDU: Nepal PM Balendra Shah will make his first foreign trip almost six months after taking office when he travels to New York later this month for the 81st UN General Assembly, where Nepal's Bhote Koshi-Trishuli disaster is expected to anchor his push for climate justice, reconstruction assistance and stronger international protection for the Himalayan region. Shah assumed office on March 27 and has so far travelled neither to India nor China, breaking bilateral traditions.Singha Darbar had initially planned to send foreign minister Shisir Khanal to lead Nepal's delegation, but the scale of the flood prompted calls within the ruling establishment and outside it for Shah himself to take Nepal's case before world leaders. The high-level UN General Debate begins Sept 22.Shah has already framed the disaster in global terms.