Time to redefine Nepal’s foreign policy?

Foreign policy is the principle that guides how a country uses different strategies to steer its relationship with other countries and international organizations. It is also known as an instrument that a state employs for promoting national interest and policy while dealing with the international community. It basically aims at contributing to global peace, harmony and security.  In a globalized world, every country seeks to protect national interest through its foreign policy.

The fundamental objectives of Nepal’s foreign policy are to enhance the dignity of the nation by safeguarding sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and promoting economic well-being and prosperity of the country. Nepal has been adopting a policy of non-interference, non-violence, peaceful coexistence, mutual cooperation and respect for other countries’ sovereignty. Our foreign policy consists of strategic plans to interact with other countries, which is fundamentally used to achieve national interest. National interest should have three basic components—security, prosperity and social well-being. Some basic principles of Nepal’s foreign policy are mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, respect for mutual equality, non-aggression and peaceful settlement of disputes, cooperation for mutual benefits, faith in the chapter of the United Nation and world peace.

Nepal attempted to adjust its foreign policy after the restoration of multiparty democracy in the 1990s. Only after the advent of democracy in 1951 did Nepal’s foreign relations become robust and expanded. Before the political changes of 1951, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) was absent and Nepal’s foreign relations were very limited. 

Foreign policy is a means of statecraft that has become the most important mechanism to defend national interests in this globalized world. Nepal’s foreign policy has remained unchanged despite changes in regimes, constitutions and governments.

In the latter decades, Nepal has gone through several changes and transitions, the traditional practices have given way to new alternatives and the actions in foreign policy decision-making have substantially surged. The issue of a growing number of actors in foreign policy decision-making also calls for a serious overview. Other line ministries and government agencies have become a part of international engagement and a prominent stakeholder in foreign policy and diplomacy. In this context, the most prominent challenges are the lack of coordination among the actors involved along with the need for structures and intuitional changes.

These structural changes pose several challenges to Nepal’s foreign policy behavior. Geopolitical and geo-economic interests of Nepal have increased with the rise of India and China. These challenges and circumstances urge policymakers to induce policy coordination and structural changes to meet the new challenges. Modern foreign policy and diplomacy are experiencing fundamental changes at an unprecedented rate worldwide, affecting the traditional way of diplomacy and decision-making process. 

Nepal’s foreign engagement needs to be made more robust with policy coordination and structural changes to address the changing geopolitics and geo-economic scenario of the country. At this point in time, global power is shifting toward Asia, especially in reference to the rise of China and India. Our ties are heavily southward-oriented, especially toward India and China. So we must promote a sound relationship of trust with both of our immediate neighbors keeping the national interest at the core.

Nepal has been following the principle of non-alignment and panchasheel for a long time. But nowadays, debates among foreign policy experts are centering more and more on redefining our foreign policy. According to these experts, there is an urgent need for Nepal to review and redefine its foreign policy vis-a-vis a changing world order, balance of power and the rise of Asian powers. 

Some contemporary issues like economic diplomacy, development diplomacy, trade diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, public diplomacy and technology diplomacy deserve due priority. Proper coordination is necessary between line ministries and MoFA toward this end.