One of the primary agendas of the current Balendra Shah government is to restructure the oversized bureaucracy to ensure more effective service delivery and reduce public expenditure. In line with this effort, the government has slashed the number of ministries to 18 from 21.

Additionally, a committee is now working on streamlining the civil service, which could potentially cut over 25,000 positions, according to officials at the Ministry of General Administration.

Coinciding with this new initiative, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has begun preparatory work to trim the number of embassies and consulates general. However, sharp differences between Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal and ministry officials have created a deadlock, leaving it uncertain whether the number of missions will be reduced or will remain unchanged.

The number of Nepal’s diplomatic missions has reached 44—34 embassies and permanent missions and 10 consulates general.

Foreign Minister Khanal entrusted the responsibility to a panel led by Krishna Prasad Dhakal, a senior joint secretary at the ministry, and asked him to submit a report.

Two other joint secretaries at the foreign ministry are also helping Dhakal in the task.

But Dhakal’s report did not meet Minister Khanal’s expectations, said two joint secretaries and one under secretary at the ministry. Dhakal has yet to formally hand over the report to the ministry but has briefed Khanal on the findings.

Why this issue grabbed attention and landed in controversy has some past linkages. The creation of more than 100 new posts from joint secretaries to the section officer level by the KP Sharma Oli government, adding to public expenditures, is the crux of the discord, according to officials.

That is why the foreign minister is under pressure from Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle to drastically cut down the number of diplomatic missions so that the government can save some millions of rupees.

Creating new posts, the Oli government established consulates general in San Francisco, Dallas (US) and Dubai, added new divisions at the foreign ministry led by joint secretaries and deployed new officials in all seven provinces and added new posts in some foreign missions.

In his preliminary presentation, Dhakal proposed shutting down the Nepali Embassy in Brazil and relocating the mandate of the Nepali Embassy in South Africa to Nairobi (Kenya) by opening a new diplomatic mission. Kenya is hosting several international agencies and emerging as a new hub for international diplomacy and global governance.

The panel also proposed shutting down the consulates general in Chengdu and Guangzhou. Officials serving in these offices would be relocated to Japan, UAE and other missions that required additional staff. As the population of Nepali Diaspora is growing, the Dhakal-led panel has proposed opening a new embassy in Romania. The staff serving at the Consulate General of Nepal in San Francisco, USA, is proposed to be set up in Croatia by opening a new consulate general in the European Union member country.

The opposition within the ministry, from top officials to local staff, stems from the creation of over 100 new positions—from joint secretary to officer level—by the Oli government between July 15, 2024, and September 9, 2025. The officers who hold the positions fear obstruction of their personal career growth.

Officials fear that reducing the number of missions would seriously limit their opportunities for overseas postings, make promotions more difficult, and restrict career civil servants’ chances of becoming ambassadors.

In the meeting with Minister Khanal, almost all under secretaries and section officers had objected to the idea of reducing the numbers of posts and embassies, an under secretary and an official told the Post.

But there is another lobby inside the ministry that favours the reduction in Nepal’s diplomatic presence, arguing that personal career growths of the newly inducted officials will not be obstructed if the government appoints consulates general from the Foreign Service in some cities like Lhasa, Kolkata, Hong Kong and sends the labour attaché from the service instead of the labour ministry.

“If we make these changes, then the personal career growth of the officials will not be obstructed. We can send more labor attachés to labour sending countries too. If the ministry stops opening vacancies for some years, then the newly inducted officials will be adjusted automatically. “Over time and once a country's economy has grown, we can open new missions in several countries,” one under secretary told the Post on condition of anonymity.

Besides rift within the foreign ministry, there are calls from other ministries such as the general administration and finance that the number of Nepali missions abroad should be brought down to reduce public expenditure.

This time too, Khanal has been receiving a similar kind of pressure from Finance Minister Wagle to trim down the number of missions drastically, an aide to Minister Khanal said.

Finance Minister Wagle wants to announce a downsizing of diplomatic missions in his budget speech, due next week, another reason why Foreign Minister Khanal is pushing his senior officials for some concrete decision. However, due to growing pressure, the ministry is in a state of confusion, officials familiar with the issue said.

Minister Khanal wants to drastically downsize Nepal’s embassies and consulates general and open some new ones in Romania and Croatia, where the number of Nepalis is growing, two officials familiar with the development said.

Since assuming office on April 27, Khanal has been consulting with former ambassadors, diplomats, and experts on the rationale for reducing the number of embassies and consulates general deemed unnecessary—missions whose work can be handled remotely or accredited to the nearest mission. Many experts and diplomats advised him to trim the number of missions while opening new ones in areas where the Nepali Diaspora is growing.

However, the proposals faced internal resistance from the ministry. When he consulted with joint secretaries, opinions were divided. Khanal listened to secretaries, new and old section officers and even non-gazetted officials, most of whom opposed the idea of a drastic downsizing. During his consultation with section officers, Khanal reportedly said that if he had his way, he would cut the number of missions by half.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Poudel Chettri said that the matter is under discussion, but he declined to comment further on this.

Several attempts were made in the past to redraw Nepal’s diplomatic map. In 2018, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs formed a task force headed by former ambassador Rudra Nepal with representatives from the finance, foreign affairs, and general affairs ministries, and a member from the Institute of Foreign Affairs.

Some eight years ago, there was a recommendation to either draw down or relocate Nepal’s missions in Spain, Brazil, South Africa, Canada, Austria, and Denmark by assessing the scope of work. Apart from Brazil, none of these host nations has set up their missions in Kathmandu on a reciprocal basis.

The news has been revised for clarity.