Nepal Cabinet Recommends Ambassadors to 13 Countries, Including India
Nishchal Nath Pandey proposed for New Delhi as Kathmandu moves to fill long-vacant diplomatic posts.
KATHMANDU, Sep 18: Nepal’s Council of Ministers on Friday recommended ambassadors for 13 countries, including India, China, the United States and the United Kingdom, as the government moved to fill several key diplomatic positions that had remained vacant for an extended period.
The recommendations were approved during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Balendra Shah, according to the secretariat of Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal.
Nishchal Nath Pandey has been proposed as Nepal’s next ambassador to India. Kalyan Raj Sharma, Chiranjung Thapa and former Nepal Army chief Gaurav Shumsher Rana have been recommended for diplomatic posts in China, the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively.
Pandey currently serves as director of the Centre for South Asian Studies, a Kathmandu-based think tank. He previously worked as executive director of the International Affairs Study Academy under Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for eight years.
He holds an LLB and a PhD in Political Science from Tribhuvan University and is also an honorary associate professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bengaluru.
The Cabinet also recommended diplomatic representatives for Japan, Israel, Spain, Germany, Oman, Malaysia, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia.
The proposed names will now be forwarded to Nepal’s Parliamentary Hearing Committee for approval. Once the parliamentary process is completed, the government will seek the agreement, or formal acceptance, of the respective host countries.
An agreement is the official consent given by a country to accept a proposed ambassador before the diplomat is formally appointed.
Nepal’s President will make the formal appointments after all required constitutional and diplomatic procedures have been completed.
