The selection process for new ambassadors, which began a month and a half ago, has entered its final stage, with the foreign minister expected to make recommendations next week.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had on May 28 invited applications through an open call to fill vacant envoy positions in 13 countries, including India, China, the US, the UK, and Australia, and set June 5 as the deadline. More than 4,400 applications were received. After removing duplicate and incomplete applications, officials selected 2,700 before shortlisting a few hundred applications.

The shortlist was forwarded to Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal’s secretariat for final consideration.

“Shortlisting was a Herculean task as one individual had submitted 94 applications through email and post,” an official involved in the vetting process told the Post. He said Khanal was reviewing the CVs of prospective candidates, and recommendations for some ambassadorial appointments are expected to be made next week, said the official at the foreign ministry.

The final decision on the appointments will be taken after discussions among Prime Minister Balendra Shah, Rastriya Swatantra Party chief Rabi Lamichhane, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle, Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal, and other top leaders of the ruling party. “However, our party is clear that the responsibility for the appointment solely rests with the government and the foreign minister,” said an RSP leader.

As the government expedites the selection process, prospective candidates have initiated intense lobbying with various power centres and the ruling RSP. Stating that such lobbying would have no influence on the appointment process, an RSP office bearer said, “They should be based on merit, and the right person should get the opportunity.”

Some missions have remained vacant since October last year. On October 16, the Sushila Karki-led government recalled Nepal’s ambassadors to China, Germany, Israel, Malaysia, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the US, the UK, and Japan. Around a week after assuming office, the Shah government on April 7 recalled six more ambassadors—Shankar Prasad Sharma (India), Chitralekha Yadav (Australia), Purna Bahadur Nepali (Sri Lanka), Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe (South Korea), Sumnima Tuladhar (Denmark), and Kapil Shrestha (South Africa).

“The government appears less concerned about appointing ambassadors despite enjoying a strong political mandate,” said a Nepali diplomat.

Most of the missions, including those whose ambassadors were recalled by the current government in April, are being run by chargés d'affaires.

“Without a resident ambassador, an embassy can do little more than keep the office running,” said Naresh Bikram Dhakal, who served as Nepal’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. “If the government wants stronger political engagement and closer bilateral relations, it should appoint ambassadors without delay.”

Further delay in the appointments would leave more missions headless, as seven more ambassadors are retiring by the end of August. While the overwhelming number of applicants delayed the selection process, uncertainty over how many embassies the government planned to shut down also contributed to the delay. “Until the annual budget announcement, there was no clarity over how many missions would be shut down, so there was a kind of confusion. Now that confusion has been resolved,” a joint secretary at the foreign ministry said.

Through the budget, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle announced that the government would close the embassies in Denmark, Brazil, and South Africa, and shut down the Consulate General offices in San Francisco (US) and Chengdu (China), along with the embassy branch in Visakhapatnam (India).

“The foreign ministry therefore had to redraw its appointment plan, hence the delay,” the official said.

For decades, ambassadorial appointments have been divided between political nominees and career diplomats.

This time, the ministry invited applications through an open competition to fill ambassadorial posts in India, China, the US, the UK, Australia, Israel, South Korea, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, among others, as well as positions at international organisations.

Talks are underway to give continuity to some ambassadors after they complete their terms after August, said one foreign ministry official. It is also not known whether recommendations will be made for the remaining seven missions after August.

“The selection process is under way,” said Lok Bahadur Paudel Chhetri, the foreign ministry spokesperson, adding, “Once it is complete, the recommendations will be made public.”