The historical relationship between Nepal and India forms a dynamic tapestry, interwoven with vibrant threads of shared cultural, religious, and ecological ties. Nestled in the cradle of the Himalayas, these two nations have fostered a deep-rooted bond that transcends mere geographic proximity. Despite this profound interconnectedness, they have faced a spectrum of contentious issues that have occasionally marred their relations, underlining the complexity and intricacy of this unique Indo-Nepalese bond.

Nepal, as a land-linked nation between the two emerging global powers China and India, draws the attention of the superpowers as well, including the United States. Nepal stands to benefit from this situation immensely if it can conduct its diplomacy properly and wisely.

KATHMANDU, Nov 11: Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun has expressed his hope that the relations between Nepal and China would be further expanded and consolidated through the means of economic diplomacy.

Smart diplomacy is about conducting proactive foreign relations. Nepal's conduct of foreign relations is one that is more reactive. We react to foreign policy issues only after they have happened.

KATHMANDU, Sept 29: Center for Social Inclusion and Federalism (CESIF) organized a seminar on Wednesday on the topic ‘Geopolitics and Foreign Engagements in Nepal’. This seminar brought key stakeholders together to discuss the prospects and challenges of increasing geopolitical competition of global powers in Nepal.

Can the contemporary ‘nearest' and ‘dearest' envoys, appointed under political game- ‘divide and rule’- present themselves ‘head to head', ‘neck to neck’ and ‘shoulder to shoulder' with the host governments or their diplomatic counterparts abroad? Are they qualified and confident enough to deliver a series of lectures in foreign universities? Are they equipped with proper diplomatic knowledge, skills and intelligence such that they could heighten the image of the nation in the international community?

The world should not forget Afghanistan, and the United States, the maker of Afghanistan’s problems, should not deliberately ignore and stay away from the Afghan issue. It is better for the doer to undo what he has done.

KATHMANDU, April 1: Ambassador of Nepal to the United Kingdom, Gyan Chandra Acharya, presented his Letter of Credence to Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday amidst a special ceremony held at Buckingham Palace in London.

It was a United Nations speech that got attention like few others — a plug for vaccines, young people and the earth’s well being from superstar K-pop band BTS.

KATHMANDU, April 4: Kikuta Yutaka is the newly-appointed ambassador of Japan to Nepal. Diplomat Kikuta Yutaka who was serving at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been appointed as the ambassador for Nepal.

DHAKA, March 23: President Bidya Devi Bhandari who is currently on a two-day state visit to Bangladesh visited the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum on Tuesday. The museum was built at local Dhanmondi in commemoration of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman known as the founding father of Bangladesh.

KATHMANDU, March 19: The Embassy of Israel together with the Center for Diplomatic Dialogue (CeDiD) organized a seminar on “6 Decades of Nepal-Israel Relations” on Thursday coinciding with the 60 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

TOKYO, March 14: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is likely to meet U.S. President Joe Biden on April 9, the first foreign leader to meet the president in the White House, Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper reported on Sunday.

KATHMANDU, March 11: President Bidya Devi Bhandari will pay an official visit to Bangladesh later this month, government sources said on Thursday.

KATHMANDU, March 5: The sixth annual “Nepal-Pakistan Friendship T20 Cricket Tournament 2021” was inaugurated on Friday.

KATHMANDU, Feb 12: Nepal's ambassador to India, Nilamber Acharya held a meeting with chief minister of the Indian State of Bihar, Nitish Kumar on Friday.

KATHMANDU, Feb 8: The second meeting of Nepal-France Bilateral Consultation Mechanism concluded on Monday.

KATHMANDU, Jan 28: Minister for Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Pradeep Kumar Gyawali has congratulated the newly-appointed US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.

For liberal diplomacy to be revived, a reinvigorated transatlantic alliance—with a far more cohesive EU acquiring the hard power it now lacks—is vitally important.

KATHMANDU, Jan 17: As Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali returned home completing his three-day India visit on Saturday afternoon, foreign relations experts in Kathmandu and New Delhi, have, citing Gyawali's failure to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the visit, said Nepal-India relations were far from coming back to normal.

KATHMANDU, Jan 15: A meeting of the Nepal-India Joint Commission began in New Delhi on Friday morning.

KATHMANDU, Jan 14: Nepali Ambassador to India, Nilamber Acharya, called on Chief of Defense Staff of the Indian Army, General Bipin Rawat, on Thursday.

TEL AVIV, Dec 13: Israel established relations on Saturday with Bhutan, a majority-Buddhist nation neighbouring India, as it looks to continue to expand its diplomatic links internationally.

KATHMANDU, Dec 11: Head of the foreign affairs cell of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vijay Chauthaiwale, held a meeting with Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali at the latter's office in Singh Durbar on Friday.

KATHMANDU, Dec 10: Head of the foreign affairs cell of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vijay Chauthaiwale, held a meeting with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli at the latter's official residence in Baluwatar on Thursday.

KATHMANDU, Dec 4: Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said that the recent visit of Samant Goel, chief of India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), to Nepal helped bring ‘Nepal-India relations on track’.

KATHMANDU, Dec 3: Newly-appointed ambassadors from Thailand, Israel, Bangladesh and Myanmar to Nepal presented their letter of credence to President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Thursday.

KATHMANDU, Nov 26: Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla arrived in Kathmandu on Thursday morning on a two-day official visit to Nepal.

KATHMANDU, Nov 23: Chinese Ambassador to Nepal, Hou Yanqi held a meeting with executive chairman of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Pushpa Kamal Dahal at the latter's residence in Khumaltar Monday morning.

KATHMANDU, Nov 10: Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla will pay an official visit to Nepal from November 26 to 27, an Indian media report said on Tuesday.

Can Nepalis hope that the visit of General Naravane will be instrumental in resolving border controversies between Nepal and India? The onus is on Indian side.

KATHMANDU, Nov 3: Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra held a meeting with Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel on Tuesday.

China and Nepal are friendly neighbors linked by mountains and rivers.  People from both the countries have shared connectivity, mutual benefit and exchanges along the border areas since ancient times. The magnificent and holy Mount Zhumulangma has witnessed the long history of exchanges between the two countries, and the vast Himalayas have become the bond of China-Nepal friendship.  In 1955, China and Nepal established diplomatic relations, which started a new chapter in the development of bilateral relations and injected new impetus into border cooperation between the two countries.

NEW DELHI, Oct 26: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in India on Monday, the first leg of a five-day Asian trip aimed at strengthening strategic ties in the face of growing Chinese influence across the region.

Mazhar Javed is a medical doctor by training. He has been appointed as Pakistan’s new ambassador to South Africa. Ambassador Javed came to Nepal in February, 2016, and left the country today after completing his four-year tenure. Republica sat down for an extensive interview with him last week, before his departure to South Africa.

KATHMANDU, Oct 14: Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane will visit Nepal next month, the Nepal Army headquarters said in a press statement on Wednesday. The Army headquarters, however, has not disclosed the specific dates for the visit.

KATHMANDU, Oct 7: Parliamentary hearing process of three ambassadors-designate to the United States of America, United Kingdom and South Africa has begun on Wednesday.

When she heard of her appointment as Nepal’s ambassador to Israel two years ago, Dr Anjan Shakya was not elated. She preferred some other country. Moreover, she feared Israel might not have been entirely free of the conflict; she grew up hearing about the war between Israel and Palestine. On February 9, she reached the 'holy land' (The land of Israel is considered pious because of its connection with the birth, crucifiction and resurrection of Jesus Christ) as Nepal’s ambassador to Israel.

KATHMANDU, Sept 17: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Thursday extended birthday wishes to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

KATHMANDU, Aug 5: A prominent American scholar of international relations John J. Mearsheimer has suggested Nepal to stay neutral and have a good relation with both India and China for its security and stability as the relations between these two regional powers is souring over territorial disputes in Galwan Valley and other territory in Line of Actual Control (LAC) in recent months.

When relations between the two states deteriorate due to various reasons, dialogue is a tool to bring them back on track. Closing all prospects for talks means the individual state does not want to keep relations at all.

LONDON, June 19: Standing apart on either side of a strip of red carpet outside Number 10 Downing Street, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron demonstrated the unusual reality of international diplomacy in the coronavirus era.

KATHMANDU, June 11: Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali held a telephone conversation with Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the UK, Lord Ahmed, on Thursday.

“If you have pissed them off, you have commanded their attention”, seems to be the settled wisdom of our time. Liberal restraint is out of vogue while instigating anger is the new fad. Though somewhat reprehensible tactic and mentally exhausting, it is shrewd. But it has its limitations.

The e-inauguration of Darchula to Lipulekh road by India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on May 8 was a surprising move at a time when Nepal was offering to hold Foreign Secretary level talks to resolve outstanding disputes with India. Earlier, Nepal had sent two diplomatic notes to India protesting the new map published by India on November 2, 2019, and in 2015 when India and China signed an agreement in Beijing to make “Lipulekh pass” a trading route to increase their bilateral trade.

Dear Sarita Giri, recently you said that Nepal should have consulted India before publishing the new map showing Limpiyadhura, Lipulek and Kalapani of Nepal. You seem to think Nepal’s sovereignty—internally (at domestic level) and externally (at international stages)—is subject to approval or disapproval by neighbouring countries. What a pity!

WASHINGTON, May 8: Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer held a phone call late on Thursday in which they spoke about U.S.-China trade, the U.S. government said in a statement.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has badly hit diplomacy. Several international diplomatic conclaves, conferences, and high-level diplomatic trips are on pause. Diplomats are being asked to stay at home. Meeting rooms in the Foreign Ministries and Embassies see no human presence. Most of the international organizations such as United Nations, European Union, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and Asian Development Bank and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) have moved online, using the digital platforms to conduct the meetings.

Diplomacy in bilateral and multilateral affairs is becoming increasingly complex requiring tact and intelligence. It involves tremendous art of communications and negotiation with a profound knowledge of English language and mastery over a range of topical issues to discuss on the part of negotiators and country representatives. Prime Minister or cabinet ministers such as the foreign minister and secretary of state, consulates and embassies serve as diplomats in implementing Nepal’s foreign policy.

KATHMANDU, March 9: Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi held a telephonic conversation on Monday.