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Nepal has emphasized the need for continuation of all international support measures after it graduates from LDC status to a developing country in 2026. Addressing the 13th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramesh Rijal said that LDC graduation is the outcome of common efforts, but the challenges that the graduated country might face should be facilitated through a creative resolution over the proposal submitted by LDC group.

“Nepal re-emphasizes the need for continuation of all international support measures, particularly Duty-Free Quota-Free Market Access, Special and Differential Treatments, preferential rules of origin, service waiver, Aid for Trade and Technical Assistance and Capacity Building supports and other important flexibilities in the implementation of multilateral trade agreements and commitments after graduation for a specified period of time,” Rijal said. 

Nepal welcomes the decision taken by WTO General Council on 23 Oct 2023 and urges all Members to support the LDC graduation-related proposal submitted by the LDC Group to facilitate the smooth and sustainable graduation, he said.

In recent years, the multilateral trading system has been undermined by growing protectionism and unilateral trade measures of the trade partners. “The system has been further weakened by ineffective implementation of WTO decisions, including Doha Development Agenda. Therefore, Nepal calls for collective commitment to the multilateral trading system,” Rijal added.

Meanwhile, WTO enshrined new rules facilitating trade in services between more than 70 member states despite initial objections from India and South Africa.

According to AP, the set of rules will streamline authorization requirements and ease procedural hurdles faced by businesses. It will help reduce the costs of global services trade by more than $119bn every year, it added. Its integration into the WTO implies all 164 members have been approved as per the body’s rules, which require full consensus.

“Reaching this outcome...and integrating it into the WTO has not been an easy pass,” EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said. “We faced opposition from two WTO members, but a ‘spirit of compromise’ eventually cleared hurdles.” 

WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, meanwhile, thanked “India and South Africa for finding a way forward,” calling services the “future of trade.” Global services exports are valued at more than $6.5trn, representing 23 percent of total world trade, according to the EU.

In March 2019, Nepal and Japan signed a memorandum of cooperation on sending Nepali workers to Japan under the government-to-government modality. Under the deal, specified skilled workers (SSW) from Nepal would get hired in various job sectors of Japan, ranging from nursing care to manufacturing to hospitality.

But the agreement, signed by then officiating labor secretary Ram Prasad Ghimire and former Japanese ambassador Masamichi Saigo, did not make any progress of note. It took more than a year for Japan to announce 60 job openings for caregivers. Thousands of Nepali youths who had taken up Japanese language classes, one of the prerequisites for employment in Japan, were left disappointed. They had paid thousands of rupees to private institutes to learn to read and write Japanese. 

Meanwhile, educational consultancies, the so-called training centers, and foreign job employment agencies (or manpowers as they are called in Nepal) started making claims that they offer the relevant skill and language training to send workers to Japan. It was the start of the government-to-government (G2G) labor agreement getting hijacked by unscrupulous manpowers.

Now it appears that their plan has come to fruition. The Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security recently came up with a new work procedure allowing manpowers to send workers to Japan. The document states that the work procedure has been introduced to make the process of sending workers to Japan more transparent, fast, and systematic. The government has essentially thrown out the G2G agreement signed with Japan and brought in privately-run manpowers. 

The government’s move also goes against the notion that G2G labor agreements could be far more transparent, safe and cost-effective for laborers. After all, Nepal has adopted South Korea’s Employment Permit System as part of the G2G deal to send Nepali workers to South Korea. 

Remittance sent by foreign job holders is a key driver of Nepal’s economy. So naturally, there are hundreds manpowers in the country. The largest share of their business comes from supplying unskilled labor forces primarily to Malaysia and the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Exploitation of Nepali workers at the hands of manpowers at home and employers in these labor destinations is no secret. It is also not unheard of that many foreign employment agencies enjoy political protection, allowing them to operate in such a manner that they make the maximum profit without a care for the safety, welfare, and rights of the workers.    

Under the new work procedure, Nepali organizations or companies which meet the standards of the SSW system and have taken permission from the ministry will be eligible to send Nepali workers to Japan. Such organizations can facilitate all the process, from conducting language and skill tests examination to sending workers to Japan.  

The document also states that the companies willing to send Nepali workers to Japan should have their training center and there should be at least two language instructors who have official certificates related to Japanese language. They  should also forge an agreement with the Registered Support Organization (RSP) of Japan which is responsible for handling specified skilled workers from foreign countries. 

RSP cannot take any fees from Nepali workers and companies. The companies  providing employment in Japan can come to Nepal to conduct the language and other tests, but there should be a prior agreement with concerned agencies.

The companies that want to take Nepali workers must issue a vacancy issuing all the details such as position, numbers and the working areas. Similarly, it should be clearly stated about the details of work, security and possible health risks it entails. The issues such as provision of social security, allowances, salary, recruitment process among others should be made transparent. 

However, there are several concerns and gaps regarding the government’s decision to hand over the responsibility of sending workers to Japan. The major one is that of transparency.  According to the ministry, those organizations who take the responsibility of sending workers should maintain a transparent way of selecting workers on merit-basis and that the ministry will oversee all the process.

This leaves a lot of wiggle room for manpowers to dictate their conduct. 

Nepali workers are going to Japan under various provisions. Even those who go under the student visas work part-time jobs there. According to the Kyodo news agency, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people from Nepal working in Japan over the past decade, owing in part to labor shortages in the service industry caused by Japan’s aging society. 

Many in the Nepali labor force, which had surged 13-fold to 120,000 nationwide in 2022, work as rafting guides, hotel employees, airport staff and other behind-the scenes workers in bustling holiday destinations. 

According to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Nepalis were set to become the fifth largest group of foreign workers in 2022.

The 13th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference kicked off in Abu Dhabi, UAE, with a focus on the smooth transition for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as they graduate. The LDCs, represented by the WTO’s LDG Group, are voicing their shared concerns, with 15 out of 45 countries currently navigating the graduation process.

Leading the Nepali delegation is Minister for Industry, Commerce, and Supplies Ramesh Rijal. 

During the four-day conference, WTO members will be seeking to secure “deliverables” during their four-day meeting in areas such as fisheries subsidies, agriculture, WTO reform, development, e-commerce, services and investment facilitation. Also on the ministers’ agenda will be how to make progress in their discussions on gender and the environment.

In his welcoming speech to the Conference,  Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and MC13 Chair, stressed the historically important role the WTO has played to provide “stability, transparency and predictability for international trade,” contributing to “raising living standards, improving employment opportunities and enabling the expansion of trade in goods and services” around the world.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala urged members to show leadership, flexibility and compromise to deliver important outcomes at MC13 for people and the planet. “Success is changing the tone about the WTO, both outside and within it. We will always have our naysayers and detractors but there is no doubt that members have shown that we can deliver when members roll up their sleeves and muster the requisite political will. During the last several weeks, the atmosphere in our preparatory discussions in Geneva has been more constructive and conducive than it was in the run-up to MC12,” she said.

In Oct 2023, WTO members reached a significant milestone with the adoption of a General Council decision on the market access element of the LDC’s proposal. This decision encourages preference-granting members to provide a smooth and sustainable period for the withdrawal of duty-free market access opportunities once countries graduate from LDC status.

Nepal qualified to graduate from the LDC category in 2021 and it is set to graduate in 2026. But the country still faces numerous challenges. The issue of LDC graduation remains a key foreign policy agenda item, with Nepal urging larger countries to continue providing trade privileges for a few years post-graduation. In turn, these larger countries are seeking Nepal’s LDC graduation strategy as soon as possible. 

While graduation is a significant development achievement, it also presents challenges, particularly the loss of preferential access to other countries’ markets, which could hinder integration into the global economy. Currently, LDCs receive special treatment from the international community, particularly in trade and development cooperation, known as international support measures.

That is why, according to the WTO secretariat, LDC Group has been discussing with other WTO members the issue of special and differential treatment in the sub-committee on LDC, with the aim of potentially reaching consensus at the ongoing conference. For an LDC like Nepal, special measures are necessary to prevent any loss of economic growth and maintain a current space of development.

Over the past four years, the WTO’s LDC Group has been discussing a smooth transition mechanism to extend LDC-specific preferences and provisions in WTO agreements after graduation. Discussions are also underway in the WTO sub-committee on LDCs’ other requests relating to special and differential treatments.

A WTO member graduates from LDC status when it meets certain socio-economic thresholds set by the United Nations, with the decision made by UN members based on the recommendation of the Committee for Development Policy. Out of the 15 LDCs on the path towards graduation, 10  (Angola, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Djibouti, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Senegal, Solomon Islands and Zambia) are WTO members. Three (Comoros, Sao Tomé and Principe, and Timor-Leste) are in the process of negotiating their WTO accession. Ministers formally approved the WTO membership terms of Comoros and Timor- Leste at a special ceremony held at the 13th WTO ministerial conference.The other two graduating LDCs are Kiribati and Tuvalu.

Meanwhile, ministers representing 123 WTO members issued a joint declaration marking the finalization of the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD), which is expected to contribute to LDC graduation. Vice-Minister of Trade of Chile Claudia Sanhueza highlighted that the agreement demonstrates the WTO’s ability to deliver for global trade and development and address current challenges.  “Once implemented, the IFD agreement is expected to foster significant economic growth in developing and LDC members and extend its benefits to non-participants,” she said. 

LDC countries like Nepal are in dire need of more sustainable investment flows.

Similarly, small economies integration into the international trading system is another major issue for the LDC countries. The draft decision calls for WTO members to address the issue of integrating small economies into the multilateral trading system by looking into issues such as the impact of non-tariff measures on trade costs, the link between trade policies and climate change adaptation, global supply chains, e-commerce and digital ecosystem. The decision on small economies was adopted by the trade ministers at the12th ministerial conference held in Geneva in 2022. 

The WTO meeting which has 166 members is taking place at a time when geopolitical tension is rising, ongoing trade war between US and China, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing trade restrictions across the globe. According to Reuters, the WTO faces a large number of difficult issues  among its 166 members, including reforming its hobbled dispute settlement system, cutting fishing subsidies, resolving disagreements over agriculture subsidies and deciding whether to extend a 25-year-old ban on duties on electronic commerce data transmissions.

Key agendas:

Accessions

Agriculture

Development

E- commerce

Environment

Fisheries subsidies

Investment Facilitation

Ip/ Tripes

Wto reform

LDC graduation

The CPN-UML has concluded the seventh meeting of its central committee with 22-point declarations and programs of action on a host of intra-party and national political issues. 

The meeting has decided to focus on party building rather than making efforts to change the government. The party has recognized several intra-party issues that need to be addressed to keep the party united. 

Soon after the 2022 general elections, the UML launched ‘Mission Grassroots’ and ‘Sankalpa Yatra’ (Resolution March) aimed at enhancing the party’s strength. But according to party leaders, the two programs did not bring the desired results. 

The conclusions, drawn by nine groups of the UML central committee, were presented at the meeting. Kashi Nath Adhikari presented the suggestions on behalf of the party’s standing committee, Ghanashyam Khatiwada from Koshi, Chandreshwar Mandal from Madhes, Kailash Dhungel from Bagmati, Navaraj Sharma from Gandaki, Radhakrishna Kandel from Lumbini, Gulanjung Shah from Karnali, Krishna Prasad Jaisi from Sudurpashchim, and Pema Lama from the department, valley, liaison, and diaspora group.

In their suggestions, the groups said that the general public is disaffected with the current government for its governance deficiencies, economic failures, corruption, insecurity, and inflation. On the party front, they emphasized the need to promote discipline, financial transparency, and moral conduct.

Addressing the concluding ceremony of the meeting, UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli urged the central committee members to put in all efforts to ensure a UML-led majority government after the 2027 general elections.

General Secretary Shankar Pokharel responded to the questions raised by party leaders. He said that the UML was executing the annual action plan, renewing party membership, ensuring the systematic operation of the party school, and collaborating with the party’s people’s representatives for their effective performance.

The UML central committee has concluded that due to unsuited individuals governing the state, the republic system was facing various challenges, with national interests taking a back seat and foreign relations becoming immature and imbalanced.

The party has resolved to utilize all its strength to bolster the democratic republic system, foster the idea of prosperous Nepal, fulfill the national aspirations of contented Nepalis, safeguard national interests and dignity, and ensure a bright future for the country.

Stating that the government has failed to expedite capital spending and that tax revenue is falling short of covering government expenses, and delays in releasing payments to contractors for completed projects have hampered the implementation of development initiatives, the UML has pledged to take meaningful action to address these issues. 

The central committee has also called for the resignation implicated in various scandals, including the deaths of two youths in the Balkumari area of Lalitpur on 29 Dec 2023.  

Highlighting the plight of loan shark victims marched all the way to Kathmandu to demand for justice, the UML has demanded that the government take strong action against greedy usurers and deliver justice to the victims. The party has also expressed sympathy towards the protests of the victims of cooperatives and microcredit institutions, and called on the government to safeguard the deposits of ordinary people. 

Stating that dairy farmers, who faced significant losses due to a lumpy skin outbreak, have been unable to receive payments totaling more than Rs 6bn from dairy producers, the UML has urged the government to demonstrate a serious commitment to supporting farmers. According to the party, the government has reduced subsidies based on production and ceased subsidizing farm insurance premiums, promoting the import of powdered milk, instead of boosting domestic production. The party has called on the government to address long-term land issues, implement a system for distributing identification cards after identifying and categorizing farmers, and allocate grants and subsidies to incentivize farming. 

The UML has urged the government to take needful measures to ensure a stable market for farm products, eradicate middlemen, and safeguard citizens from the impacts of climate change. It has also urged the government to control inflation and ensure the smooth supply of daily necessities.

The UML central committee has demanded that the government promptly release the grant funds for quake-affected families to construct temporary homes, and immediately bring plans for their reconstruction and rehabilitation without delay. Thirty-eight survivors of the Jajarkot earthquake have died due to the cold winter because of government indifference, the party said.

The UML has urged the government to devise concrete strategies to stop political meddling in the higher education sector. The party has also demanded action against the perpetrators who attacked 16 members of its student wing at Lamjung Agriculture and Livestock Campus.

The UML has criticized the diplomatic failure on the part of the government to secure the release of Bipin Joshi, who has been held hostage by Hamas since the attack on Israel by Hamas in October last year. The party has called for a lasting peace in the Middle East and advocated for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state as proposed by the United Nations. 

The party has also called out the government’s ineffectiveness to bring back the Nepali youths working for the Russian army. 

Regarding the power trade agreement with India, the UML has expressed concerns that certain provisions go against the national interest. Instead of resolving issues related to long-pending projects like Pancheshwar and Upper Karnali, the UML said that the government awarded key projects such as West Seti, Seti-6, and Phukot Karnali to Indian developers without the competitive bidding process. The UML has demanded that the government make public all agreements, understandings, and arrangements made for energy production and trade to safeguard Nepal’s national interests in natural resources and to ensure competitive arrangements in energy production and distribution.

The party has also expressed its concerns regarding the activities of some groups to disrupt social harmony by stoking social and religious tensions. The UML has claimed that some individuals within the government are involved in such activities. Thep party has called upon people of all languages, castes, religions, and cultures to remain vigilant against any actions that undermine social harmony, to identify those responsible for such acts, and to contribute to strengthening social harmony and national unity.

The UML has also raised objections to the release of individuals involved in the death of its activist Chetan Aidy, who was killed by Nepali Congress workers during the 2022 general elections, under the political pressure and influence. Such incidents undermine the rule of law, erode public confidence in the judiciary, and perpetuate impunity, the party has said.

Secularism is an essential characteristic of a democratic society. When Nepal adopted a new constitution in 2015, secularism was one of its defining features. Through the constitution, the nation that once identified as the only Hindu kingdom took a bold step to do away with both monarchy and Hindu statehood. But this wasn’t without resistance. Hindu organizations and pro-royalist parties such as the Rastriya Prajatantra Party were among the fiercest opponents of republicanism and secularism. But the major political parties—Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, and CPN (Maoist Center)—prevailed on the decision. 

Nearly a decade after Nepal promulgated the new constitution, the topic of Hindu state has once again seeped into public and political discourse. 

Of late, even major political parties—not just the pro-royalist RPP—seem to be entertaining the idea of reinstating the Hindu state. The Nepali Congress, considered the flagbearer of democratic ideals, is one of them. Voices in favor of the Hindu state are gaining ground inside the party, with an increasing number of central leaders supporting the idea of reinstating Hindu statehood. The NC is currently holding the meeting of its Mahasamiti, the party’s highest decision making body, and although religion or secularism is not on the official agenda, it has figured out rather prominently on the margins of the meeting.  

The Hindu state restoration campaign led by Central Working Committee (CWC) leader Shankar Bhandari is getting increasing support from the other CWC leaders. It is said that more than three dozen members are in favor of restoring the Hindu state. On Tuesday, party’s senior leaders Shanshank Koirala and Tara Nath Ranabhat signed the petition in support of the Hindu statehood campaign. Out of 169 CWC members, 33 have signed in favor of the Hindu state. A considerable number of non-CWC members are also said to be in support of the Hindu state. 

In the previous Mahasamiti meeting held in 2018, around 700 out of 1500 Mahasamiti members had put their signatures in favor of the Hindu state. The number of Mahasamiti members in favor of restoring the Hindu state is said to have reached at least 800. This clearly shows that the NC leadership is under pressure to review its position on secularism, which is enshrined in the 2015 constitution. 

Just a few days back, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba himself said that the party could consider reviewing its position on secularism.  

While the Hindu statehood has always been one of the key agendas of royalist parties like the RPP, the issue gained traction among the major political parties particularly after the rise of Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India. It is in the interest of the BJP, which thrives on Hindutva politics, to see Nepal as a Hindu nation. The BJP-affiliated religious organizations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is one of the chief proponents of Hindu statehood in Nepal.  

Observers say the influence of BJP is international; it’s not just limited within the borders of India. The UK, home to a large Hindu Indian diaspora, is a case in point. Elements of extreme Hindutva politics, which believes in Hindu hegemony, have been reported in various parts of Britain in recent years.

In Nepal, where more than 80 percent of the population identify as Hindus, it is not hard to imagine how and why secularism became a hot-button topic. 

When the large majority of the population is Hindu, it doesn’t take any stretch of imagination to see why the major political parties are jumping on the Hindu statehood bandwagon. Political analysts say though Nepal’s political parties may not agree with Hindutva politics, by restoring the Hindu state—or by at least toying with the idea—they are trying to appeal to the voters. Some even contend that secularism was the agenda carried by the Maoist party that saw the Hindu statehood and monarchy with the same lens.  

NC leader Lokesh Dhakal says that the party should take the position of scrapping secularism and stand in favor of the Hindu state as around 90 percent people support the Hindu state. 

Other senior NC leaders who back the Hindu state are the party’s Gandaki province chief Sukraraj Sharma, Bagmati chief Indra Bahadur Baniya, former minister Dilendra Prasad Badu, and CWC members Pushpa Bhushal and Devenedra Raj Kandel. 

Pro-Hindu forces are already intensifying their activities across the country to restore the Hindu state and monarchy. But the major parties are against reinstating the monarchy. 

In fact, the document presented by the NC Vice-president, Purna Bahadur Khadka, at the ongoing Mahasamiti meeting has strongly criticized the efforts to revive monarchy, dubbing it meaningless. The document does not make a mention about Hindu state restoration, although the activities and murmurs within the party suggest volumes.

The Mahasamiti meeting of Nepali Congress started on Monday after a six-year hiatus. Although the party’s top decision-making body, which is supposed to meet every two years, last held its meeting in 2018, which came hot on the heels of Congress’ historic electoral drubbing in general elections. 

In these past six years, the party has re-emerged as the largest party, thanks to the electoral alliance with the CPN (Maoist Center) and a few other fringe parties in the 2022 general elections. However, the grand old party is still not out of the woods yet. The party’s popularity is diminishing, intra-party rift is becoming increasingly tense, and the organizational structure is in shambles.  

The electoral alliance in 2022 elections catapulted NC back to the top spot, but many in the party are of the view that they should think about contesting the next general elections without any alliance.     

NC General Secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa and his team is pressing the leadership of Sher Bahadur Deuba to pass a resolution that the party will not forge a pre-poll alliance. However, Deuba and his supporters are not keen about the idea. 

In a direct reference to the Maoist party, in his political document, Thapa states: “The Mahasamiti meeting should make a resolution that the party would not forge a pre-election alliance, and will not create an environment in which the cadres will be forced to vote for other parties.”

The document further states though the prospects of a single party securing a majority are slim under the current electoral system, there can be a post-election alliance to deliver a government on the basis of common minimum program. The grassroots level cadres, according to Thapa, feel that pre-poll alliance is eroding the party’s ideology. 

“Between the 2017 and 2022 elections, our popular votes have shrunken by five percent. This is because NC cadres and supporters did not get the chance to vote for their party,” Thapa told the Mahasamiti meeting. 

Regarding the existing alliance with Maoist, Thapa said that the party should stick to it for the next four years, but come the next general elections, the Nepali Congress should fight alone. 

The faction led by senior leader Shekhar Koirala has a similar position on electoral alliance. 

“When I visit outside Kathmandu, our cadres often ask me, ‘When will we contest the election as a single party?’ Because of the electoral alliance, our vote share has decreased to 27 percent from 34\35 percent,” he said.

The reading of Thapa and Koirala regarding the pre-election alliance is the same, but their ambition to become the next president of the NC prevents them from joining hands to mount pressure on the current leadership. 

NC President Deuba and his supporters do not subscribe to Thapa and Koirala’s views. They believe that the alliance with Maoists helped the Congress become the largest party, and that this partnership could be continued in the future. 

The NC leadership takes the alliance with the Maoists as a compulsion and strategy to keep its main rival, the CPN-UML, out of power. But the local level leaders are not satisfied with the alliance. This was evident when the party members disregarded the NC-Maoist alliance and voted for the UML candidate in the National Assembly elections of Koshi province. The incident has created an environment of distrust between the NC and the Maoist party. 

NC leader Nain Singh Mahar says local level cadres are dead set against pre-poll alliance, mainly with the Maoist party. 

Given the animosity between two parties during the insurgency era, the NC cadres do not want to vote for the Maoist party. During the armed rebellion launched by the Maoists, the rebel force killed scores of NC cadres and confiscated their properties. To this day, the supporters of NC see the Maoists as their enemy. Even when the Maoists decided to join mainstream politics, scores of NC leaders and cadres were against the peace process initiated by former Congress leader Girija Prasad Koirala.

In the 2022 general elections, the NC forged an electoral alliance with the Maoists to defeat the UML. Soon after the elections, the Maoist chairman, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, whose party polled behind the UML in third position, urged the NC to support his prime ministerial bid.

When the NC rejected Dahal’s bid, the Maoist leader went on to join forces with the UML to become prime minister. This led to a bizarre scenario where the NC, despite winning the most number of seats in the House of Representatives, was consigned to the opposition aisle. Deuba’s leadership was heavily criticized at the time. Questions were also raised about alliance politics, particularly when two parties with opposing ideologies come together. 

The Deuba leadership managed to break the Maoist-UML alliance and reform another government under Dahal, but the debate over electoral alliance did not leave the NC. Deuba and his supporters may not want to pass the resolution rejecting the pre-poll alliance, as it could create friction within the current coalition. But this does not mean that the pressure is not off from Deuba. 

If the NC Mahasamiti meeting endorses the resolution, it will surely create a rift in the NC-Maoist coalition. The next general elections are still four years away, and if NC passes such a proposal, there is a high chance that the Maoists will once again join forces with the UML. 

It’s clear that Deuba doesn’t want to scupper his chance to become prime minister as per the deal reached with the Maoist chairman and current prime minister, Dahal. Deuba will try his best not to get the Thapa-proposed resolution passed from the Mahasamiti meeting. 

Vice-President Purna Bahadur Khadka, a leader close to Deuba, in his political document, states that the election alliance has become a compulsion due to the current electoral system. 

“We are forging the electoral alliance to avoid the risks of political instability because under the current system, no party secures the majority numbers required to form a government.” 

Another General Secretary Bishwa Prakash Sharma has taken a middle path stating that it would be too early to decide about the electoral alliance, as the election is four years away.  He nevertheless agrees that alliance politics is damaging the party's reputation among the supporters.

Frustration is also growing among the Congress cadres and supporters because the current coalition government has failed to deliver. Although the NC dominates in all three tiers of government, the party has not taken any notable initiatives to ensure good governance and development. 

According to Thapa, there is not proper coordination and communication between the party and government, a major challenge that all governments have been facing after the restoration of democracy in 1990.  

As the decision of the ongoing Mahasamiti meeting of the NC could impact the national politics, the Maoist and the UML will be closely following the development.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in Feb 2022, Nepal joined the chorus of widespread international condemnation against Putin’s Russia. 

Nepal went so far as to vote in the emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly against  Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and demanded that Russia immediately withdraw its forces and abide by international law. 

At the time, many foreign policy watchers said Nepal’s voting in the UN went against the country’s long-standing non-alignment policy. In the subsequent voting process concerning the Russia-Ukraine war, Nepal decided to maintain a neutral position.  The reverberations of the war was felt in Nepal’s economy too, although not as much in many parts of the world. Interestingly, soon after the war, Moscow came up with a new proposal to advance bilateral cooperation with Kathmandu.

Amidst the war with Ukraine, Russia invited Nepali politicians for an official visit. Chairman of National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timalsina paid an official visit to Moscow last year.  The Russian Embassy in Kathmandu also submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressing willingness to contribute to Nepal’s connectivity and other areas.

At one point, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal even declared that he was interested in visiting Moscow or hosting Putin in Kathmandu. With its reputation taking a major slide, Russia wanted to create a favorable public opinion, and it had succeeded with the Dahal government. 

But two years after the war broke out, Nepal faces an unpleasant moment with Russia. Lured by good earning prospects, Nepali youths are flying to Russia through unscrupulous agents to join the Russian Armed Forces. The horrors of war have visited Nepal in the form of Nepali youths either dying or missing in the war.    

The official government figure says that 13 youths serving in the Russian army have been killed so far. But it cannot be trusted, since Russia does not give out the casualty numbers of its own soldiers, let alone the foreign soldiers who have joined its army. 

Russia has been recruiting foreign nationals including from Nepal to fight its war with Ukraine. Nepal’s request to Russia to stop the recruitment of Nepali youths has so far gone unheard. The Nepal government has also asked Russia to repatriate the Nepali youths who have joined the Russian Armed Forces and provide compensation to the families of those who have been killed in the war. 

Though Kathmandu and Russia are in constant communication, Russia is yet to respond to Nepal's request. It is not certain how many Nepali youths are currently serving in the Russian army. The government estimates the number around 200 but those who have escaped from Russia say that the number could be in the thousands.

Till now, 13 Nepalis have been confirmed killed, 50 have returned from Russia and approximately 150 families have submitted an application at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting for safe return of their family members.

Security agencies in Nepal have nabbed a group involved in sending Nepali youths to Russia. Similarly, the authorities have tightened the provision of visit visa after it was found that most of the youths were able to reach Moscow using visit visas. Similarly, the provision of no-objection letters has been extended to 10 countries. Work permits to Russia and Ukraine have also been barred.

But many Nepalis continue to reach Russia to join the army. It is said most of the new Nepali recruits joining the war are migrant workers based in the Middle East and other labor destinations.  

According to government officials, Russia has agreed to provide compensation to the family members of those who have been killed in the Russian army, but the two sides are yet to agree on the modality of how the compensation will be distributed. Nepal has requested Russia to send the cash incentives to the families in Nepal, but Russia is saying that family members should travel to Moscow to claim the compensation. 

Nepal has also requested Russia to send the bodies of Nepali citizens who have been identified and kept in the hospitals, but the issue of who will pay the money to repatriate the dead remains uncertain.

It is said the government is also in talks with Ukraine to free five Nepali prisoners of war. But officials say Ukraine has set some conditions to free those hostages. Some of the conditions include legal punishment for freed hostages once they have returned to Nepal and a guarantee that no Nepali shall join the Russian army again.

As more families are coming out claiming that their loved ones are missing in the Russia-Ukraine war, the Nepal government is facing increasing pressure to hold talks with Russia as well as Ukraine to secure the safer return of its citizens.

At the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit recently, Foreign Minister NP Saud met Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Vershinin and asked to stop the recruitment of Nepali nationals and send back those who have already been recruited. The latter assured to communicate Nepal’s concern to the Kremlin, but nothing came of it. Saud has recently expressed his willingness to travel to Russia to talk on the same issue, but Russia has not agreed so far.  

This week families of those who are in the Russian army organized a press conference to air their concerns. Suman Rai, who escaped the Russian army and returned to Nepal said more than 500 Nepali nationals have already died in the war and thousands are still serving in the Russian army. He added that most of the Nepali youths, who do not understand Russian language, have been deployed in the frontline.

According to some media reports, Russia has been providing around Rs 300,000 to Nepali youths. To attract foreign nationals to join the Russian army, the Kremlin has also pledged to provide them with Russian citizenship.  

Nepali youths who reach Russia are said to be paying up to Rs 1m to agents and brokers. The promise of lucrative salary has driven many Nepalis to risk their lives and join the Russia-Ukraine war. Even those people who were holding permanent jobs in Nepal’s security agencies are joining the Russian army. 

Sun Haiyan, deputy minister of the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party visited Nepal from Jan 26-29. Among other engagements, she held a meeting with second-rung leaders of the national parties represented in the federal parliament. At the meeting, she said that some forces were trying to spoil Nepal-China relations. Sun didn’t name names but she was hinting at the US and India. 

Of late, bilateral exchanges between the two countries have increased. China has also become more vocal and loud in Kathmandu. At the same time, India and the US have also expedited bilateral exchanges with Nepal at multiple levels. Meanwhile, the current government led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal is grappling to maintain cordial ties with all three powers. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is led by Nepali Congress’s Narayan Prakash Saud who is an inexperienced politician in the realm of foreign policy and international relations. This article delves into how the current government is dealing with India, China and the US. 

India

With India, the Dahal-led government has adopted the approach of focusing more on development and economic partnership. Foreign Ministry officials say the signing of power trade agreement with India to export up to 10,000 MW electricity is a key remarkable development in bilateral relations. The agreement, they say, has also created a conducive environment for foreign investment in Nepal’s hydropower sector. Another significant development linked to this deal is India’s nod to allow Nepal to export 40 MW electricity to Bangladesh, which is likely to be operationalized from July this year. After a long time, the dream of regional power has been materialized.

Similarly, officials claim several connectivity and other bilateral projects are moving ahead, and the government has been able to secure Indian support for survivors of the Jajarkot earthquake. India has also increased the grant amount by InRs 1bn to be provided to Nepal under the fiscal year 2024-25. In the new provision, India will be providing Nepal with a total grant of InRs 6.50bn.  

As far as the long-standing issues such as border disputes and the report of Eminent Persons’ Group is concerned, it seems that the present government has adopted a different approach. The Dahal government is unlikely to push India to receive the EPG report. 

As for the Treaty of Peace and Friendship 1950, according to a top diplomat, the present government is of the view that there should be an all-party consensus within the country before approaching India. On border disputes, the government reckons that both political and bureaucratic levels should work simultaneously. 

Speaking at a program a few days back, Foreign Minister Saud said that border disputes between Nepal and India should be resolved on the basis of political consensus. “We have a joint technical committee in this regard. The committee should be activated after which the leadership of both countries should resolve this problem diplomatically based on the facts,” he said. 

China

After the formation of the Dahal-led government, bilateral engagement and exchanges between Nepal and China have increased notably. China seems serious about expediting the works of some projects, such as Ring Road expansion and maintenance of Araniko Highway, among others. Similarly, the two sides have started the paperwork to expedite the construction of cross-border transmission lines while preparations have begun to construct an agro industrial park in Chitwan and Gorkha. 

Over the past few months, both air and road connectivity between the two countries have widened. But the current government still faces the criticism of giving less priority to China, particularly concerning the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects. Beijing has been pressing Kathmandu to sign the BRI implementation plan at the earliest, but the Dahal-led government has not shown much enthusiasm for it.  

A few days back, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha said at an event that Nepal and China were working to finalize the BRI implementation plan. But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made it clear that Nepal will not take loans from China to realize the BRI projects.

 With big projects, such as those envisioned by the BRI, showing no signs of progressing, China has of late directed its focus on small projects in Nepal, ones that could immediately bring changes in people’s life. A senior official at the Prime Minister’s Office says as the Nepali Congress has been dictating the conduct of foreign policy, there has been little progress in regard to bilateral partnership with China.

While Beijing is pleased with the position taken by Prime Minister Dahal and the senior leaders of major parties against the independence of Taiwan, China still seems wary of the growing influence of Western countries in Nepal.

US

Foreign Minister Saud says there has been substantial improvement in the relationship with the US. For some years after 2018, the Nepal-US ties mainly revolved around the issue of ratifying the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) through parliament. The much controversial issue has now been resolved following the parliamentary endorsement of the MCC Nepal Compact, but some technical details are still there. 

In the MCC, rising cost of the proposed projects is one of the key issues which needs to be resolved through bilateral talks and negotiations. Nepal has already made it clear to the American side that it is not in a position of investing more money in the projects.  

In the past, the US’ Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS), seen by many as a tool to curb China’s growing influence, had also impacted the Nepal-US relationship. But the American side has managed to downplay the IPS concerns, though some of its components are under implementation. 

During his visit to the US, Foreign Minister Saud held talks with his American counterpart Antony Blinken and other high-level government officials. Along with increasing the volume of bilateral assistance, American private companies have shown interest to invest in Nepal’s tourism, agriculture, medical and other areas, and they are seeking an appropriate environment. In 2023, there was a series of visits from the American side. In the meeting with Saud, Blinken said Nepal is a valued partner in the Indo-Pacific region which has given a clear message that America accords high priority to its relationship with Nepal.