Dahal on SPP: It was Oli-led govt that agreed to implement SPP

KATHMANDU, June 16: Chairman of CPN (Maoist Center) Pushpa Kamal Dahal has maintained that it was the KP Sharma Oli-led government that agreed to implemented the State Partnership Program with the United States of America (USA).

Addressing an event in the capital on Thursday, Dahal maintained that the Oli-led government agreed to implement the SSP in Nepal in 2019. 

“However, these days we are learning that false claims about the SSP agreement are being made in the market. It is not true” Dahal said.

“I as a leader of the ruling alliance want to assure that no such agreement has been signed and will not be signed in the coming days as well,” Dahal further added.

According to Dahal, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is also committed not to sign such an agreement.

What is SPP? 

The State Partnership Program (SPP) is a joint program of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and the individual states, territories, and District of Columbia.

The State Partnership Program has been successfully building relationships for over 25 years and now includes 85 partnerships with 93 nations around the globe.

The SPP evolved from a 1991 U.S. European Command decision to set up the Joint Contact Team Program in the Baltic Region with Reserve component Soldiers and Airmen. A subsequent National Guard Bureau proposal paired U.S. states with three nations emerging from the former Soviet Bloc and the SPP was born, becoming a key U.S. security cooperation tool, facilitating cooperation across all aspects of international civil-military affairs and encouraging people-to-people ties at the state level.

This cost-effective program is administered by the National Guard Bureau, guided by State Department foreign policy goals, and executed by the state adjutants general in support of combatant commanders and U.S. Chief of Mission security cooperation objectives and Department of Defense policy goals.

Through SPP, the National Guard conducts military-to-military engagements in support of defense security goals but also leverages whole-of-society relationships and capabilities to facilitate broader interagency and collateral engagements spanning military, government, economic and social spheres.