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Govt to open new diplomatic missions
KATHMANDU, JUL 29 -
If everything goes as planned, Nepal will open diplomatic missions within a year in seven countries where the population of Nepalis is increasing. The idea is also to bolster trade and investment.
While Nepal has 32 diplomatic missions currently, it has a policy of opening one in a country where the population of Nepali nationals crosses the 5,000 mark.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) is holding talks with the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in this regard. The MoF’s prior approval is a must when opening a mission abroad. According to officials, talks are headed for the right direction.
Three SAARC countries—Bhutan, Maldives, Afghanistan—top the priority list.
“The Nepalese population in Afghanistan is increasing and we are planning to open missions in some countries within SAARC,” a MoFA official told the Post.
Last year, Nepal opened diplomatic missions in Kuwait, Brazil, South Africa and Canada.
A team of MoFA formed to prepare an ‘Organisation and Management’ report and led by Joint Secretary Dhananjaya Jha will come up with the need to open more missions.
“There is a general impression that opening new missions is spending money unnecessarily; this is not true. Most of our missions are earning good money through consular and visa work,” the official said.
“Any stable government can take a call in this regard while we can easily open three-men missions in the beginning,” the official added.
Another MoFA official told the Post that Singapore is another country in the priority list.
“Singapore is the third largest importing port of Nepal after India and China. More than 15,000 Nepalis are currently working there. While Singapore and Nepal have direct air connection, the country’s new policy to attract medium-level work force could lure more Nepalis there,” the official said.
“Our policy has been opening new diplomatic missions and we are always open to extending our presence across the globe,” Harish Chandra Ghimire, the assistant spokesperson of the ministry, said.
Another target is Spain where the Nepali population has crossed the 100,000 mark.
Also, due to a large presence of Nepalis in Oman, the ministry is working to open a mission there. Opening of two Consulate General offices in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Guangzhou in China is also on the cards.
The countries
Bhutan
Maldives
Afghanistan
Singapore
Spain
Oman
Posted on: 2010-07-30 08:02
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