Prime Minister Shah Moves Toward Separate Meetings with Foreign Diplomats
Indian and Chinese ambassadors to be received on the same day, US chargé d’affaires to meet Prime Minister on Tuesday
Dragon Media Correspondent
Prime Minister Balendra Shah is set to begin separate meetings with key diplomatic representatives in Kathmandu from Monday, modifying his earlier position of avoiding individual meetings with foreign diplomats.
Prime Minister Shah is scheduled to hold separate meetings on Monday with Indian Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava and Chinese Ambassador Chen Songming. He is also scheduled to meet US Chargé d’Affaires Scott Urbom on Tuesday.
The decision to receive the ambassadors of both neighbouring countries on the same day is being viewed as a diplomatic signal that the government intends to accord importance to Nepal’s relations with both India and China. The meetings, however, have been scheduled at separate times.
These will be Shah’s first formal individual courtesy meetings with foreign ambassadors based in Kathmandu since assuming office as Prime Minister. The discussions are expected to be primarily introductory, with bilateral relations, issues of mutual interest, and messages from the respective governments likely to feature in the conversations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already informed the respective embassies about the meeting schedules. Officials from the Foreign Ministry, relevant divisions, and the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers are expected to attend, although the final list of participants has yet to be confirmed.
Prime Minister Shah had initially adopted a policy of not holding separate meetings with foreign ambassadors or visiting senior foreign officials. Instead, he had placed greater emphasis on collective engagement with heads of foreign missions based in Kathmandu. He held group meetings with diplomatic mission chiefs on March 25 and May 12.
That approach had been positively interpreted as an effort to promote transparent diplomacy and balanced relations with foreign partners. At the same time, foreign policy experts had noted that bilateral meetings would remain necessary in the conduct of government because of country specific issues, sensitive communications, and specialised diplomatic agendas.
During the early phase of his government, Shah also declined proposed individual meetings with several senior US officials visiting Nepal. Requests for meetings involving American officials responsible for South and Central Asian affairs and other senior visiting representatives did not move forward at the time.
The Prime Minister did, however, meet Asian Development Bank President Masato Kanda during his visit to Nepal. That meeting was different in nature from routine bilateral diplomatic engagement with ambassadors, as it involved the head of a multilateral development institution.
After the government completed its first one hundred days, advisers reportedly encouraged the Prime Minister to broaden his engagement with different sectors. Since then, Shah has increased meetings with business leaders, entrepreneurs, political representatives, and other stakeholders. Separate meetings with ambassadors in Kathmandu represent another stage in that expanded engagement.
The diplomatic meetings had been under consideration earlier but were postponed following tensions and violent incidents in Sunsari and several other districts in the Tarai region. During that period, Prime Minister Shah also held discussions with Madhesh based political parties, lawmakers, and other concerned groups.
The decision to begin separate diplomatic engagement by meeting the ambassadors of India and China on the same day indicates a pragmatic adjustment in Prime Minister Shah’s initial diplomatic approach. If the government can preserve the transparency of collective diplomatic engagement while also holding bilateral discussions when necessary, the practice could help make Nepal’s diplomatic communication more institutional, balanced, and effective.
