US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu will arrive in Kathmandu on a day-long visit on Friday, according to the US Embassy in Kathmandu. The embassy, through a Facebook post, made the announcement of Lu’s visit on Thursday.

Lu will land in Kathmandu in the morning and will depart the same night, a senior foreign ministry official said. The American side, however, has not shared the objective of the visit, the official added.

Since Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is mourning the death of his wife Sita, who passed away on Wednesday, Lu will call on Dahal briefly and offer his condolences. Lu will also meet Foreign Minister NP Saud as well as some other leaders and officials privately.

“As part of a trip to the region, Don Lu, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, is looking forward to returning to Nepal,” read the post, “On July 14, he’ll be meeting Government of Nepal leaders and Embassy staff.”

This is not a coordinated visit and we did not extend him an invitation to visit Nepal, said the foreign ministry official. “But we expect him to air his concerns over US interests and investments in Nepal, among others.”

Sources in the government told the Post that since Lu is coming for a regional trip, he wants to take stock of the political developments and ongoing preparations for smooth implementation of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Nepal Compact, which will come into implementation next week, and the issue of refugee identity cards for Tibetan refugees living in Nepal. He will also discuss core American concerns like human rights, completion of the transitional justice process, execution of the several US funded projects in Nepal, among others.

“At present, one of the major concerns for the US is the smooth implementation of the MCC Nepal Compact,” a senior finance ministry official said, adding, “we have promised them our full support for the compact’s smooth implementation, which will take five years.”

Under the MCC framework, the US government will provide $500 million in aid, while the Nepal government will put in an additional $160 million to execute two projects related to electricity transmission lines and upgrade of major highways.

Lu is on a whirlwind tour of South Asian countries including India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. As per the US embassy’s Facebook post, Lu will also meet with an American Chamber of Commerce member to learn about their efforts to give Nepalis unique skills so they can compete globally.

This will be Lu’s third visit to Nepal and the first after Pushpa Kamal Dahal was elected prime minister in December last year.

Lu first visited Kathmandu in November 2021, ahead of the Parliament’s ratification of the MCC Compact to put pressure on the political leadership to endorse the compact, which was then endorsed by Parliament on February 27, 2022.

In July 2022, Lu paid his second visit to Nepal after Kathmandu refused to be part of the US State Partnership Program (SPP) against the backdrop of strong public opinion against the programme.