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The five-party ruling coalition has formed a 10-member task force to prepare a Common Minimum Program (CMP) of the government. Along with domestic issues, the task force will also outline the foreign policy priorities of the new government.

The latest coalition has four communist parties—CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Socialist), and Janata Samajbadi Party—and one centrist party, Rastriya Swatantra Party. Before the Unified Socialist entered the coalition, the four parties had signed an eight-point deal where they had made a brief mention about the government’s foreign policy. They pledged to ensure “a balanced and extended international relations, keeping national interests and priority at the forefront.”

The UML, Maoist, Unified Socialist, and Janata Samajbadi have almost similar views on foreign policy, while the RSP, a new party that emerged through the 2022 general elections, has no clear foreign policy outlook as of yet. 

Whenever the government in Nepal is overwhelmed by communist parties, the international community, particularly India and western democracies, keenly watch the priorities and approach of Kathmandu. As a result, the communist government always has to go the extra mile to win the trust of democratic world. China, on the other hand, feels comfortable when there is a strong communist government in Nepal. 

So building trust with major powers will be crucial for the government of Pushpa Kamal Dahal. 

Except for China, no countries have officially reacted to the formation of the new coalition. On March 5, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said: “China has been informed about the formation of a new power equation and the reorganization of the cabinet in Nepal. We hope that the relevant parties of the alliance will unite and advance the work of forming a new government and bring about political stability, economic growth and improvement in the people’s livelihoods.”

After the Cabinet reshuffle in Kathmandu, major countries—the US, China, India, and the UK— have met Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun. Unlike in the previous Cabinet, the two key ministries are now led by the Maoist party. Earlier, both ministries were headed by the Nepali Congress, and Prime Minister Dahal was unhappy with the working ways of the Congress ministers. 

The prime minister expects to bring some sort of uniformity in both foreign policy and economic fronts by appointing Maoist ministers. But it may take some time to identify the foreign policy and economic priorities of the new coalition. 

After taking a vote of confidence on March 13, Prime Minister Dahal plans to brief the international community about his foreign policy priorities. The prime minister’s secretariat has already been reaching out to major embassies in Kathmandu to assure that the new alliance will  maintain cordial ties with all countries. 

For Dahal, taking the international community into confidence is crucial ahead of the investment summit. 

In its CMP in 2022, the coalition of these same parties had outlined the foreign policy priorities. Its major points included protecting the country’s national independence and national interests, ensuring the rights of land-locked countries, and a relationship based on equality between big and small countries. It also talked about enhancing the policy of non-interference in internal affairs of other countries, adopting the UN Charter, Panchsheel, non-alignment, world peace and operating international relations based on the international laws. On the neighbors front, the 2022 CMP pledged to maintain “a friendly relationship with neighbors and all friendly nations for peace, stability, economic reformation and the people’s prosperity” based on mutual benefits and welfare.

The new CMP is unlikely to come up with any concrete or new points to provide guidelines for the new coalition. In the past, Prime Minister Dahal had tried to skip the contentious issues with major powers to focus on development and economic partnership. This led the main opposition at the time, CPN-UML, to blame the Dahal government for giving less priority to the relationship with China.  

Now the UML has become a key coalition partner in the Dahal-led government, and it will be interesting to see how the Maoists and UML will reconcile their differences. 

NP Saud, the former foreign minister from the Nepali Congress, says Nepal’s foreign policy is based on non-alignment and UN charter but in practice the country needs to make cordial ties with immediate neighbors India and China and other major countries.  

“Under my leadership, we have been successful in creating an environment of trust with both neighbors and other big powers. We signed energy trade cooperation with India which is instrumental to bring foreign investment in Nepal’s hydropower and other areas.” 

He adds that the previous coalition government also convinced the US and other western powers to make investment in Nepal, while the relationship with China was also moving in a positive direction. 

“There is an opportunity for this coalition government to bring in huge investments from the US and the UK. It will be a wise idea for the new coalition to follow the path that we have created in the last one year,” suggests Saud.

Dr. Nihar R. Nayak, research fellow with India’s think tank MP-IDSA, says given Nepal’s geostrategic location, Nepal does not have leverage to bring about strong changes in the conduct of foreign policy irrespective of which party comes into the power. 

“The policy of neutrality, Panchansheel,  non-alignment and not to join any military alliances are the key issues that the new coalition is likely to reiterate while conducting the foreign policy. The new coalition I think will try to keep a cordial relationship with neighbors and other powers such as the US, the UK, Japan, South Korea and other key development partners.” 

In China, Nihar predicts that there could be some progress on the BRI projects as both China and the left government want to move ahead with it. 

“China is likely to adopt some sort of flexibility in the negotiations with BRI such as concessional loans and other issues. 

In India, Nihar says, “there will not be any major changes and the current government is unlikely to raise any sensitive issues.”

Newly elected chairperson of the National Assembly (NA) Narayan Prasad Dahal said that he would take initiative to boost the prestige and importance of the upper chamber of the Federal Parliament.

Talking to media persons while exiting from the meeting after his election to the post, Chair Dahal shared that he would play an active role to establish the thinking that NA is the essential institution.

"I am committed to unite NA members of all parties to fulfill the entire roles and responsibilities of NA. I also have self-confidence that I will be successful in it," he underlined.

Stating that he would move ahead taking every activity that falls within NA's jurisdiction seriously, NA Chair Dahal stressed that he would be involved in formulating laws as well as boosting the prestige of the NA.

Dahal is scheduled to take oath of office and secrecy before President Ramchandra Paudel today itself.

Narayan Dahal elected as National Assembly chair (With video)

CPN (Maoist Centre) candidate Narayan Dahal has been elected as the chairman of the National Assembly.

In the election held today, Dahal garnered 39 votes while his contender Yuvaraj Sharma of the Nepali Congress secured 17 votes.

After Dahal obtained majority votes, Vice-Chairperson Urmila Aryal announced that he was elected as the chairman of the upper house.

A total of 56 lawmakers were present in the election.

Gopi Bahadur Sarki proposed Dahal for the post while Devendra Dahal of CPN-UML, Beduram Bhusal of CPN (Unified Socialist) and Mohammad Khalid of Janata Samajbadi Party seconded the proposal.

Dahal is the brother of Prime Minister and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

He was nominated as a member of the National Assembly by the President on the recommendation of the government in 2021.

With the formation of a new alliance, an agreement was reached among CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, CPN (Maoist Center) Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane and Janata Samajbadi Party Chairman Upendra Yadav to support the candidate of Maoist Center for National Assembly chair and UML for vice-chair.

The position remained vacant after Ganesh Timilsina retired after completing his six-year tenure on March 3.

Five political parties in the coalition government have inked a seven-point agreement, pledging to support the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government and make it successful.

The meeting that took place at the Prime Minister's official residence in Baluwatar today decided to support Narayan Dahal, the candidate for the election of National Assembly (NA) Chair on behalf of the CPN (Maoist Center).

The election for the post of NA Chair is taking place today.

A meeting attended by the top leadership of five political parties representing in the Federal Parliament decided to promote mutual cooperation to make the government delivery further 'effective' and 'advance' towards good governance, social justice and prosperity.

The meeting also agreed to proceed ahead with dialogue with other political parties positive over the process to form a new coalition government and promptly conclude the transitional justice issue, remaining task of the peace process and matters regarding the establishment of a durable peace on the basis of consensus.

They also agreed to enact remaining laws required for implementing the federalism, make the operation of the three-tier government effective and prepare a common minimum program among the parties in the government, and to come up with government policies and programs capable of promoting the interests of the nation and democracy.

An understanding has been reached among the political parties to strengthen national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity as well as to move ahead towards the path of political stability for socialism-oriented socio-economic development. 

The five political parties agreed to move ahead to fulfill people's aspirations of good governance, development and social justice as well as putting the issues of national interest and concerns in priority.

Similarly, these parties have made an effort to develop a balanced and holistic international relation and to move ahead in the path of prosperity in an effective manner by strengthening the federal democratic republic as per sentiments and spirit of constitution of Nepal.

CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman and Prime Minister Dahal, CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal, Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane, and Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav signed the agreement.