You’ve been in the field of diplomacy for over 25 years. How do you see your current role as an ambassador?
I’ve had the privilege to serve as a chief of mission previously, but not as a senate-confirmed ambassador. So to have this role now is a great honor, and I look forward to doing everything I can with my wonderful mission at the US Embassy. With the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) projects, which we’re getting ready to implement, and the recently signed USAID agreement, there are many things to do. Also, with our historical projects through the Peace Corps and all the volunteers that have been here, we are heading in a good path. We have wonderful people-to-people relationships and a growing government-to-government relationship. So, I see my role quite extensively, and I’m looking forward to exploring all of these angles. What does the US think about Nepal’s relations with China and India? South Asia is a dynamic region and I was privileged to lead the US policy on it for a couple of years, and it just cemented for me my fondness and excitement about the potential that we have throughout South Asia. But I think Nepal, in particular, is in a geopolitically challenging place, right between India and China. I fully believe Nepal is destined to have good relations with its neighbors. I just think that we have a great opportunity to build on the partnership that we’ve had over the last 75 years. I’m very excited to watch how Nepal conducts its foreign policy to learn more about its relationships both with India and with China. The US is often accused of seeing smaller South Asian countries like Nepal with an Indian eye. What do you say? I disagree with the premise. I have to look into why this narrative is set here. It doesn’t fit the reality of US policy. The reality is that we want to see a strong Nepal that is able to exercise its sovereignty, that enjoys territorial integrity, that has the opportunity to build its democratic institutions and expand its economy to go on a path to prosperity. We have a wonderful relationship with India, as we built a strategic partnership over many years and we work closely on many fronts. And that I think will benefit the world and the region in the years to come. At the same time, we have had a very close and growing relationship with Nepal. Nepal on its own merits and initiatives has qualified for the MCC project. Nepal has qualified for the expansive USAID project. Nepal has shown itself to be a country where we want to bring our development finance corporation and invest. All of those things are independent of Nepal’s relationship with anyone else, and completely a factor of our confidence and belief that Nepal has a great future ahead of it in its own right. How do you see the current Nepali-US relations and how has it evolved over the years? It’s evolving at a rapid and exciting pace. We’ve talked about the $500m US grant that we’re putting into Nepal to expand its hydropower capabilities and to expand its transportation sector. To help lay a strong foundation for its growing economy, we have a $659m agreement between USAID and Nepal. Part of that will focus on traditional areas where we’ve worked with Nepal over the years, like education, health, and agriculture, and then on areas that are newer, perhaps climate mitigation, economic growth, and entrepreneurship. I have mentioned the Peace Corps. We’ve had over 4,000 Americans come and be Peace Corps volunteers in Nepal, and I’ve met so many Nepalis saying they are still in touch with their Peace Corps teachers who live in different parts of the US. It’s great to see those ties continuing and being built on. In the financial sector, the US development finance corporations have invested almost $150m in helping local banks expand their loans to the small- and medium-sized business sector, which is the backbone of any growing economy. Those are the areas I’m very excited to keep working on, and I think that we have huge potential going forward. MCC was a much-debated US grant that has been finally ratified by the Nepali parliament. How do you see the overall process going? It is going very well, I must say. We’re working very closely with our government partners to lay the foundations for where we need to go over the next few months to get to the construction phase. MCC is going to bring thousands of jobs during the construction phase. As we build these power lines and new roads and the projects themselves have once completed, they will lead up to over 2,000 jobs. It is unfortunate that there was so much disinformation given about MCC. Now we’re getting ready to put people to work, and we’re very excited about it. Is it a part of Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) and do we need consent from India for our projects? MCC is an independent US agency that has its mandate of using a good investment criterion to foster economic growth. And Nepal qualifies for that completely on its own and in competition with many other countries around the world. It is independent from anything like USAID, DFC or the Peace Corps. The IPS has also got a lot of bad information in Nepal. People have equated it with a military strategy or something more aggressive and more competitive. But that’s not true at all. I wouldn’t speculate on where it went wrong. I’m not worrying about it right now, but I’m about trying to build and go forward and figure out how we can make the most of the opportunity we have now with MCC, DFC, USAID, and other great initiatives. MCC is sometimes compared to China’s Belt-Road Initiative (BRI). How do you see it? There were some comments from China regarding the MCC. I’m not sure why they felt compelled to comment about it. It’s a pretty simple project. I’m not going to be here to tell Nepal what projects it should or should not be part of. I'm just going to try to continue to work with Nepal in a way that helps them evaluate and gives them a context in which they can get the best deal possible for the country and for the people of Nepal. The Chinese have been using BRI throughout the region, and it is a means to exercise their influence. American policy is not designed to try to look for China’s rise or try to change China’s system. It’s designed to look at how we can get to a point where democracy is seen as a preferred means of running a country. As for BRI, that’s for the people of Nepal to determine on their own. There are no reservations from our side. I just want to make sure that we're providing the best opportunity possible. Can Nepal be like China, India, Korea or Taiwan who all got big support from the US to be a tech-hub? I think Nepal has a great opportunity to use the IT industry as sort of a launching pad or a leapfrog position for its development. We’re already seeing US-tech companies come into Nepal. We’ve got companies coming in to set up cyber security operations. We’ve got a company coming in to do artificial intelligence work here. I think they’re recognizing that Nepal has skills that are beneficial to their investment. So, we’re going to continue to work. But I have to emphasize one thing here. When you talk about the pledges of investments, we lump countries into one category. It’s important to note the US government doesn’t direct any company to go and invest in foreign nations. They make their own decisions. So, I think we really like to focus on how we can be helpful in creating a positive environment to attract more companies over here. If the US companies arrive here, the other countries will also be interested as well. Instead of providing grants and financial assistance, can the US help more in technology transfer and bilateral exchange of academics and research? It is something very important and it’s where we’re working on. There are Fulbright exchange programs. It’s often overlooked that Nepal has the 12th largest contingent of students in the US. Many of these students get advanced degrees, work for a time, and then come back to Nepal with that knowledge and investment opportunities. And it is a huge area for us to build on in the years ahead. Tech transfer and recycling of brainpower back into the country is a very exciting area for us to work on. A lot of people from Nepal are living and working overseas for a long time. To create good financial opportunities in the country, jobs and programs like MCC perhaps can be helpful on that front. It can also help attract talent back to the country again. We have a general election near. What’s your thought and message? I’m very excited to watch the electoral process here. I am a big fan of democracy. We just had our own mid-term elections in the United States. I find it empowering for people to have a chance to select their leaders and I’m excited to see who they select for the next five years, and, by extension, who they select for us to work with in furthering this great relationship for the next 75 years.
