KATHMANDU, Aug 4: The Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee (PHSC) of the Legislature-Parliament on Thursday conducted the hearing of Lok Bahadur Thapa, the proposed ambassador to the European Union and Belgium.
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Thapa is currently the Director General of the Department of Passport. A meeting of the committee chaired by its president Kul Bahadur Gurung took information from Thapa on his future action plan and vision, in course of the hearing.
On the occasion, Thapa said it would be his first priority to further strengthen Nepal's diplomatic relations the 27 countries in the European Union and Belgium. He added that he would lay special emphasis on economic diplomacy, among the different facets of diplomacy.
The proposed ambassador stated that he would also give emphasis to promoting Nepal's tourism, protecting the welfare and interests of Nepalis living in those countries and also to promote foreign direct investment from these countries, among other works outlines in his action plan.
Lawmakers and members of the committee including Nepali Congress Chief Whip Chinkaji Shrestha, the CPN (UML) Chief Whip Bhanubhakta Dhakal, the CPN (Maoist Center) Chief Whip Hitraj Pandey, Ananda Dhungana, Bal Krishna Khand, Anita Pariyar, Chitra Lekha Yadav, Asta Laxmi Shakya, Ganeshman Gurung and Yogendra Chaudhary put various questions to proposed ambassador Thapa and suggested him to strengthen Nepal's economic diplomacy and spread the message that Nepal is safe for visit, among other issues.
There are about 10 thousand Nepalis living and working in Belgium. As many as six thousand Belgian tourists are said to visit Nepal annually. RSS
