By Our Reporter
Donald Lu, US assistant secretary for South and Central Asia at the State Department, visited Nepal last week. Coincidentally, he arrived in Nepal at the same time when the government of Nepal had dispatched a letter to the US informing the latter about the rejection of the State Partnership Programme (SPP) by Nepal. The government on June 21 formally decided to reject the SPP and it delayed by more than a month sending a formal letter to the US about the decision of rejection.
Obviously, Lu arrived in Nepal to exert pressure on the government and political parties of Nepal for its participation in the State Partnership Programme. He was also in Nepal in November last year, before the Parliament okayed the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
But this time he came to Nepal almost a month after Nepal formally decided to reject the SPP.
As a result, during his meetings with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka, the issues related to SPP were not discussed.
Surprisingly, Lu also did not meet other leaders other than PM Deuba and FM Khadka.
During his visit in November last year, he met with CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli and CPN (Maoist Centre) chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal and other politicians.
Login to add a comment