His Majesty King Letsie III applauded Ireland’s commitment and the leadership role she played in ensuring the operationalisation of the loss and damage fund at COP28 held in Dubai last year.
His Majesty applauded Ireland when accepting letters of credence from the new Ireland Ambassador to Lesotho, Mr. Austin Gormley at the Royal Place in Maseru on Wednesday.
He said he believes if properly and effectively utilised, the fund could help developing countries such as Lesotho offset the damaging and devastating impacts of climate.
He further expressed gratitude over Lesotho’s inclusion in Ireland’s fellowship programme as the country sees it as a pathway for young people to acquire valuable skills and qualifications that can be of immense benefit to themselves and both countries’ developments.
His Majesty said Ireland has been supporting Lesotho in critical sectors of education, health, infrastructure development, agriculture, rural water supply and governance.
In conclusion, His Majesty wished the Ambassador success during his tenure of office and assured him of the government and Basotho’s support.
Presenting his letters of credence, Mr. Gormley said he understands that Lesotho continues to face social challenges and is particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate, pledging to actively explore opportunities to work with partners in this country to offset the impacts of these challenges and adapt to more difficult climate conditions.
He also noted that Ireland played a leading role in the agreement on the operationalisation of the loss and damage fund at COP28 in Dubai.
He concluded that he will play an active role as the Ambassador of Ireland to Lesotho to further strengthen bilateral relations and international cooperation between the two nations.
Meanwhile, the Ambassador later paid a courtesy call on the Prime Minister, Mr. Samuel Ntsokoane Matekane.
Bilateral Cooperation between Lesotho and Ireland began in 1975 and as such, Lesotho is one of the longest Irish Aid Programme Countries. Despite many years of harmonious bilateral cooperation, formal diplomatic relations between Lesotho and Ireland were only established in 2005 following the opening of the Lesotho Embassy in Dublin, Ireland. Ireland on her part opened her Consulate in Maseru in 1980. The Consulate was later upgraded to a fully-fledged Embassy in 2006 but was permanently closed in May 2014.
Source: LENA 20/03/2024
