Minister for Foreign Affairs NP Saud will leave Kathmandu on Sunday for an official visit to the United States. 

The visit at the foreign minister’s level is taking place after nearly five years. Former foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali travelled to Washington DC in December 2018. During that visit, a statement by the State Department sparked controversy in Kathmandu when it categorically mentioned that Gyawali and his counterpart, Michael R Pompeo, discussed Nepal’s central role in the US Indo-Pacific Strategy.

During the visit, Foreign Minister Saud is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with the US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in Washington D.C. on October 30.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the foreign minister will also hold meetings with the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development Samantha Power, Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Alice P. Albright and other high-level officials of the US government.

He will also meet with Congressman Mike Carey, Nepal Caucus co-chair in the US Congress.

Other engagements of the Foreign Minister include a talk programme at the United States Institute of Peace, interaction with the Nepali-American business community, meeting with the IT advisory network, and interactions with Non-Resident Nepali Association representatives and Nepali-American professionals.

The Nepali delegation consists of the Nepali Ambassador to the United States Sridhar Khatri and senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Embassy of Nepal in Washington D.C. as well as presidents of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries and the American Chamber of Commerce in Nepal.

Foreign Minister Saud will return home on November 5.