Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, Foreign Minister Mahendra Pandey said  that those countries who come seeking Nepal’s vote should be ready to assure representation of least developed countries (LDCs) and landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) at the UNSC; prioritise regional representation; and give space to one of the largest troop contributing countries in the UN peacekeeping mission.

Pandey was of the view that the countries like Nepal, one of the chief contributors in the UN peacekeeping mission, should have a greater role while formulating peacekeeping policy and its implementation.

Nepal lays its emphasis on overhauling the UN system and expansion of the UNSC, he added.

Foreign Minister Pandey also outlined the priorities and functions of his ministry for the new fiscal year.

He said that preparations were underway to introduce an act to make foreign service a specialised field of bureaucracy, add properties of Nepali missions abroad, procurement of land for embassy and chancery buildings, and expedite tasks to introduce e-passports.

Besides, Pandey added, his ministry was also formulating country-specific foreign policy, planning to organise regional and central meetings of Nepali ambassadors, and preparing to set up 50 new live enrolment centres inside and outside Nepal within this fiscal year.

Minister Pandey said that strengthening economic diplomacy will remain the top priority of the ministry. To that end, he said, the ministry will work towards attracting trade and investment with other line agencies and improve efficiency of bilateral and consultative mechanisms.

Matters like strengthening the Institute of Foreign Affairs, training diplomats, implementation of diplomatic code of conduct, establishing more diplomatic and bilateral relations with friendly nations, and creating link between foreign and security policy and looking issues through the eyes of security perspective are also among the top agendas of the ministry, the foreign minister said.

He also criticised the Saarc and Saarc Secretariat for its poor response when Nepal was devastated by a powerful earthquake on April 25.

Although the Saarc has its own disaster management centre, he said, it did not work at the time when Nepal was in crisis.

There is an urgent need of revitalising the Saarc and other international platform, Minister Pandey said.

Noting that Nepal was hosting the fourth Bimstec Summit, he said that it was an opportunity to boost the country’s image in the international platform.