- The Nepal government recommended 13 ambassadors, including for India, China, the US, and the UK, following an open application process.
- Nominees include foreign policy scholars and a former army chief, reflecting diverse backgrounds in academia, security, and economics.
- The list features four women and representatives from Madhesi, Janajati, and Dalit communities to ensure broader diplomatic inclusion.
- Candidates must pass parliamentary hearings and receive formal approval from host countries before their official appointment by the President.
Kathmandu, Nepal: The government has recommended ambassadors for 13 countries, including India, China, the United States and the United Kingdom, after months of discussions over appointments to vacant diplomatic posts.
The Council of Ministers made the recommendations at its meeting on Friday. The nominees must now appear before the parliamentary hearing process and receive agrément, or formal approval, from the governments of the countries to which they have been proposed. They can be appointed by the President only after completing those procedures.
The recommendations follow Nepal’s first open application process for ambassadorial appointments. In May, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited Nepali citizens to apply for ambassadorial positions. More than 4,400 applications were submitted.
After duplicate and incomplete applications were removed, around 2,700 applications were considered. The ministry later reduced the list to a few hundred candidates before sending its recommendations through the government’s selection process.
The process took several months, with disagreements over some of the proposed names reportedly contributing to the delay.
Nominations for India, China and the US
The nominations for India, China and the United States are among the most closely watched.
The government has proposed Dr Nischal Nath Pandey as ambassador to India, Dr Kalyan Raj Sharma to China and Chiran Jung Thapa to the United States.
Pandey is a foreign-policy scholar and director of the Centre for South Asian Studies. He previously served as executive director of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and has worked as an adviser to the government on foreign-policy and other matters.
Sharma is an economist and specialist in Nepal-China affairs. He holds a doctorate from Fudan University and has been involved in academic, business and Nepal-China relations.
Thapa has a background in security and international affairs. He has worked on crisis management, security policy and diplomacy and has experience with international organisations and Nepali government and security institutions.
The three nominees have mainly worked in foreign policy, academia, security and other professional fields rather than in senior party politics.
Former Army Chief Nominated for UK
Former Chief of Army Staff Gaurav Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana has been proposed as Nepal’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Rana served as chief of the Nepal Army from 2012 to 2015 after more than four decades in the military. During his tenure, he was involved in the integration of former Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army and led the army during the response to the 2015 earthquake.
His nomination comes against the backdrop of Nepal and Britain’s long military and diplomatic relationship, particularly through the Gurkha connection.
However, Rana, like the other nominees, will have to go through the parliamentary hearing and receive approval from the British government before he can formally take up the post.
Four Women on the List
Four women are among the 13 people recommended as ambassadors.
They are Prapti Sherchan for Spain, Sharu Joshi for Germany, Dr Padmakshi Rana for Oman and Dr Manchala Jha for Sri Lanka.
Their professional backgrounds include international development, migration, gender policy, economic issues, governance and academia.
Sherchan has worked with the International Finance Corporation. Joshi has experience in migration, foreign employment and gender-related policy. Rana has worked in areas related to sustainable development and entrepreneurship.
Jha is a governance and public-policy academic and previously served as a member of Nepal’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Representation of Different Communities
The proposed list also includes nominees from several communities that have traditionally had less representation in senior government positions.
Suresh Kumar Karn, nominated for Israel, and Manchala Jha, nominated for Sri Lanka, are from the Madhesi community.
Sangam Shrestha, who has been proposed for South Korea, has a Janajati background. Sharu Joshi and Prapti Sherchan are also identified with Janajati communities.
Giribahadur Sunar, nominated for Saudi Arabia, is from the Dalit community.
The list therefore includes a mix of professional backgrounds and communities. Whether that representation is reflected in Nepal’s final ambassadorial appointments will depend on the completion of the appointment process.
Other Nominees
The government has also recommended:
Jigyan Kumar Thapa — Japan
Suresh Kumar Karn — Israel
Prapti Sherchan — Spain
Sharu Joshi — Germany
Dr Padmakshi Rana — Oman
Chudamani Kharel — Malaysia
Prof. Dr Sangam Shrestha — South Korea
Dr Manchala Jha — Sri Lanka
Giribahadur Sunar — Saudi Arabia
The nominees have experience in areas including international relations, security, economics, migration, development, technology and academia.
Nominees Still Need Parliamentary and Foreign Approval
The Cabinet’s recommendation does not mean the nominees have been appointed yet.
Their names will be sent to the Parliamentary Hearing Committee, where the nominees will go through the required hearing process.
The government will then seek agrément from the respective countries. The President can formally appoint an ambassador only after the receiving country agrees to the nomination.
As a result, the nominees may still have to wait before they can take up their assignments.
Vacancies Remain in Other Missions
The 13 recommendations do not fill all of Nepal’s vacant ambassadorial posts.
The government still has to make appointments to a number of missions, including those in Australia, Qatar, Russia, Brazil, Egypt, Bahrain, Bangladesh and Myanmar, as well as Nepal’s permanent mission to the United Nations in Vienna.
Other missions affected by vacancies include China, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, the UK, the US and Spain.
Some vacancies arose after the government recalled ambassadors, while others were created when ambassadors completed their terms.
The Foreign Ministry’s system allows ambassadorial appointments from both the career diplomatic service and the political category. The government has also been considering career diplomats for some of the remaining posts.
First Open Application Process
The current nominations follow an open application process that Nepal had not previously used for ambassadorial appointments.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs received thousands of applications after inviting Nepali citizens to apply in May. The move brought a public application stage into a process that has traditionally involved recommendations through political channels and appointments from within the Foreign Ministry.
The names now recommended by the government include people with experience in foreign policy, security, development, economics and academia. Career diplomats are also expected to be considered for some of the posts that remain vacant.
The next steps are the parliamentary hearings and the agrément process. Until those are completed, none of the 13 nominees can formally begin work as an ambassador.
Friday’s decision has moved the appointment process forward, but several diplomatic posts remain to be filled.
