By Shashi P.B.B. Malla
Prime Minister Balen Shah’s decision to meet all the accredited ambassadors in Kathmandu at one sitting was indeed novel and to be praised.
However, the location of the diplomatic pow-wow and the setting was not ideal.
From the optics, it would have been better if the meeting had been held in Singha Durbar or the Foreign Ministry itself.
The room also appeared too cramped and the table seating the envoys like in college.
It would have been ideal if the room was more spacious, and the table much larger and oval-shaped – like that of Putin’s table at the Kremlin.
The Nepalese would have been seated on one side and the envoys on the other in order of seniority according to their accreditation.
New Orientation
In connection with the new development-oriented approach, more trained and skilled economists should be recruited to the ministry.
Each of the geographical area departments should have at least one economist.
In fact, training and further education should be part and parcel of the job.
Language skills should be encouraged. In order of necessity and taking into consideration Nepal’s geographical position, the following languages should be given preference: Mandarin-Chinese, Tibetan, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Arabic, Korean, Japanese, French, Spanish, German.
When officials are in Kathmandu, on the job training, a stint in other relevant ministries and districts and language training should be de rigueur.
When stationed abroad, officials should be encouraged to further their education, training and language skills. London, Washington, New York, Beijing, New Delhi, Tokyo, Seoul are ideal places.
Ministry should be expanded & reconstituted
For the ministry to function optimally in the new era, it would be better if it was expanded and reconstituted. It should be changed to:
The Ministry of External Affairs & International Cooperation
The ‘foreign aid’ department of the Finance Ministry should be transferred to the new revamped ministry.
The new ministry would have a wide mandate. In Kathmandu, it would be in constant contact with the United Nations representatives, embassies, and development oriented INGOs.
Abroad, Nepalese embassies would be in contact not only with the foreign ministries, but also development–and labour-oriented institutions.
In the new ministry, the department of United Nations affairs will also be responsible ‘UN Peace Keeping’ and also for coordinating with the Ministry of Defence.
The ministry should also strengthen its role in research and publication, and its Institute of Foreign Affairs should take the leading role in the on-the-job and further training of ministry officials.
All said and done, the new ministry could contribute vastly to cementing Nepal’s image in the international arena and contributing to its development agenda.
The writer is a former official in the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Senior
Lecturer of International Relations at
Munich, Germany and Tribhuban
universities.
He can be reached at:
shashimalla125@gmail.com
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