The PHSC meeting held at Singha Durbar decided to endorse the name of envoys after holding hearings of remaining seven envoy-nominees on Friday. The parliamentary panel had conducted hearings of three of the total 10 envoys nominated by the cabinet on Thursday. [break]
The nominations of envoys endorsed unanimously include Shanker Bairagi (Permanent Representative of Nepal to UN, Geneva), Rudra Nepal (Australia) and Mukti Nath Bhatta (Denmark), Bharat Raj Paudyal (Pakistan), Paras Ghimire (Myanmar) and Pralhad Prasain (Israel) from among career diplomats.
Likewise, the parliamentary panel also endorsed unanimously the nominations of Maoist party loyalists Ravi Mohan Sapkota (Russia), Ram Mani Pokharel (Belgium), Dr Maya Kumari Sharma (Qatar) and Kaman Singh Lama (South Korea) as envoys. They were appointed as envoys from among political appointees.
This is the first that more than 50 percent of the ambassadorial assignments have been given to career diplomats.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) will start sending requests for agreemo to the respective countries after the ministry receives a letter from the parliamentary committee, according to MoFA Spokesperson Tirtha Wagle.
"The envoys will leave for the country of their diplomatic assignments after the ministry receives agreemo from the host countries. This may take some time," he said.
Nepal´s permanent representative to the UN, however, does not need to wait for an agreemo.
During the hearings, the PHSC, which comprises leaders from almost all political parties represented in the parliament, had quizzed the envoy-nominees about their professional experiences, areas of interests, how they would bolster Nepal´s relatoins with the host countries, etc.
Earlier, the PHSC had put off the hearing arguing that the list of nominated envoys was not inclusive. The committee began the hearing after the MoFA sent a letter clarifying that the government was committed to ensure ´inclusiveness´ wherever possible.
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