A cabinet meeting held at Singha Durbar on Monday decided to appoint Foreign Secretary Durga Prasad Bhattarai for the post of Nepal´s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York. The post had fallen vacant after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Nepal´s then Permanent Representative Gyan Chandra Acharya as under secretary general for the Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) on August 14, 2012. [break]
Joint Secretary Sewa Adhikari, who is the deputy chief of mission in New York, started working as officiating chief of mission since the post fell vacant.
The appointment of Bhattarai comes in the wake of criticisms from various quarters for the government´s failure to make appointment even to key positions like the UN Mission in New York---the center of multilateral diplomacy. The crucial post was left vacant even during the UN General Assembly last year.
With the appointment of Bhattarai as Nepal´s permanent representative to the UN, senior most joint secretary at Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) Arjun Bahadur Thapa will now assume the post of foreign secretary. Thapa, who has been serving as joint secretary for the past 14 years now, has on many occasions in the past served as officiating foreign secretary, besides Nepali ambassador to the United Arab of Emirates (UAE).
An understanding to appoint Foreign Secretary Bhattarai as Nepal´s permanent represeentative to the UN was reached during a meeting held between the senior leaders of the parties represented in the High Level Political Committee (HLPC) and Chairman of Interim Election Council of Ministers Khil Raj Regmi in Baluwatar earlier in the morning. The parties had agreed not to send political appointees to the Nepali mission in New York, Geneva and Belgium.
According to UCPN (Maoist) Vice Chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha, the government and the parties have reached an understanding to give full shape to the constitutitutional bodies and appoint ambassadors in the vacant positions. The parties will forge consensus on the appointments within next two-three days.
Sources familiar with the development said the government is also preparing to appoint envoys to various countries that have been left without ambassadors for the past few years.“"We are preparing to submit criterion for ambassadorial appointments. The government will then take necessary decisions”" said a senior official at MoFA.
Currently, ambassadorial positions in India, Egypt, Thailand and Malaysia are lying vacant. While the position of envoy to Germany falling vacant within a month, it is now Nepal´s turn to give candidacy for the SAARC secretary general due to fall vacant in March, 2014.
The process to appoint ambassadors could not take place in the past as it required parliamentary hearings until an amendment was made to the Interim Constitution 2007 in March this year. The amendment removed the mandatory provision of parliamentary hearing for the appointments of ambassadors and members of the constitutional bodies in view of the dissolution of parliament in May 27, 2012.
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