Kathmandu: The government on Friday announced new ambassadorial nominations for eight countries, primarily under the quota of the ruling CPN-UML party, with the Rastriya Swatantra Party yet to select its ambassadors.
Earlier this month, the government recalled ambassadors from 11 countries who were appointed by the previous administration led by Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2021.
The cabinet, in a recent decision, appointed Lokdarshan Regmi, former chief secretary and Nepal’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, as the new ambassador to India. This follows the recall of Shankar Sharma, the current ambassador to India, on June 6.
Regmi, who briefly served as Nepal’s envoy to the United Kingdom from March to October 2021 before being recalled, also held various high-ranking positions such as chief secretary, home secretary, finance secretary, and secretary at the Ministry of Land Reform and Management.
Chandra Ghimire, former Commerce and Industry Secretary, has been appointed as Nepal’s new ambassador to the United States, replacing Sridhar Khatri, who was appointed under the Nepali Congress quota in March 2022.
Bijan Pant, previously a social development advisor to Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and a recent advisor at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), has been named the new ambassador to the United Kingdom under the CPN (Maoist Centre) quota.
Sushil Pyakurel, a former commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission and advisor to former President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, has been recommended as the new envoy to South Korea.
Sumnima Tuladhar, a child rights activist and Executive Director of Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre (CWIN), has been nominated as Nepal’s ambassador to Denmark. Tuladhar was previously nominated as ambassador to Australia by the KP Oli government in May 2021, but the nomination was revoked after Oli was replaced by Deuba.
Pushpa Raj Rajkarnikar, a former member of the National Planning Commission and an expert in trade and financial management, has been named ambassador to Spain.
Netra Prasad Timilsina, an NGO activist recently involved in organizing the World Social Forum in Kathmandu, has been appointed as the new ambassador to Malaysia under the CPN-UML quota.
Absuman Khan has been named Nepal’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia under the Ashok Rai-led Janata Samajbadi Party faction quota.
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