Kathmandu, August 14:Foreign affairs expert and former Chief Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi has said that Nepal cannot be strategically linked to the State Partnership Program (SPP).
Speaking at a meeting of the House of Representatives’ International Relations and Tourism Committee at Singha Durbar on Friday, Bairagi said no decision regarding the SPP could be taken beyond the limits set by Nepal’s foreign policy and Constitution.
He clarified that the then government had decided not to move forward with the SPP because Nepal’s policy does not allow it to be linked with strategic or collective military structures. He said a serious analysis was needed to determine whether Nepal’s participation in the SPP would amount to a strategic association.
Bairagi noted that Nepal has been following the principles of Panchsheel and a non-aligned foreign policy, and said joining the strategic or military network of any major power would not be consistent with Nepal’s foreign policy.
“Our main concern is that we should not be linked to strategic and collective arrangements. That is why the then government decided to withdraw from it,” he said.
He made it clear that, given the limits defined by Nepal’s foreign policy and Constitution, the country could not move ahead without analyzing whether participation in the SPP would make Nepal appear to be strategically aligned.
“There is no possibility of our participating in the SPP without analyzing whether joining it would mean that Nepal is strategically associated with it,” Bairagi said.
In June 2022, the Nepal government had formally decided not to move forward with or participate in the SPP and to inform the United States of its decision.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
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