Newly appointed Foreign Minister Balananda Sharma was sworn in on Friday.

President Ramchandra Paudel administered the oath of office and secrecy to Sharma at the President’s Office in Sheetal Niwas. Prime Minister Sushila Karki appointed him foreign minister earlier in the day.

This is the fifth Cabinet expansion by Karki, who leads an interim government mandated to hold the House of Representatives elections on March 5. The Cabinet is now 15-strong.

The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Vice-President Ramsahay Prasad Yadav, Prime Minister Karki, Speaker of the House of Representatives Devraj Ghimire, Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut, senior government officials, heads of diplomatic missions, security chiefs and heads of constitutional bodies.

Former Nepali Army lieutenant general Sharma played a key role in the integration of Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army.

After the then CPN (Maoist) joined the peace process in 2006, he served as coordinator of the technical committee on army integration. He served nearly 39 years in the Nepali Army, holding leadership roles at various levels, and was deployed in international peacekeeping missions for nearly four years.

Sharma also served as the chief of the Covid-19 Crisis Management Committee (CCMC) during the pandemic.