Nepal: Deuba government to recall ambassadors appointed by previous government

Sep 21, 2021

Kathmandu [Nepal] September 21 : Nepal's newly formed government led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has decided to recall all the Ambassadors appointed by the former government.
A minister said that former Ambassadors have been appointed 'under political quota', and hence the incumbent government has decided to call them back home, a sitting minister confirmed.
"A cabinet meeting held in Singha Durbar on Tuesday made a decision to this effect. The cabinet meeting decided to recall all ambassadors except the career diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA)," Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Gyanendra Bahadur Karki confirmed.
Nepal has a total 33 diplomatic missions abroad. While career diplomats have been appointed as ambassadors in 10 different missions, the remaining 23 missions are filled by political appointees.
With this decision, the ambassadorial positions in various major countries including India, China, the US, the UK, Russia and Japan have now fallen vacant.
In a recent decision, the erstwhile KP Oli-led government on May 8 had recommended Krishna Chandra Sharma as Ambassador to South Korea, Sumnima Tuladhar to Australia, Yubraj Karki to Bahrain, Narayan Prasad Sangraula to Myanmar, Kul Prasad Nepal to Brazil, Sumitra Subedi to Denmark, Meraj Musalman to Saudi Arabia and Janga Bahadur Chauhan to Russia.
The Oli-led government had earlier appointed Lok Darshan Regmi as Nepali ambassador to the UK, Dr Yubaraj Khatiwada to the US, Nilamber Acharya to India and Mahendra Bahadur Pandey to China.