Yet another report recommending ways and approaches to revitalize Nepal’s conduct of international affairs has been submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the changed context, there is undoubtedly a dire need to invigorate Nepal’s foreign policy exercise, set appropriate goals and strategies and overhaul the communication and coordination problem among our missions abroad and the Foreign Ministry together with other sectoral ministries. There is however, no dearth of reports and recommendations, only a scarcity of the willingness to implement them along with a drought of a new mind-set to drive the foreign policy of the country in the new, changed political reality. Thirteen years ago, a similar report was submitted by a high-level panel headed by Late Uddhav Deo Bhatt. Its recommendations were never completely implemented by the various governments. The latest report submitted by another panel headed by Former Foreign Secretary Murari Raj Sharma was handed over to the MoFA amidst a grand ceremony held at the Shital Niwas and the entire contents of it has already been leaked into the media but ironically the same report has not been placed in the official website of the Ministry. There are ample indications that in a short span of time, it will also gather dust and fade into oblivion.
Before recommending on the foreign policy direction that the new set-up of the country should be adopting, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), which is the implementing institution on foreign policy should itself be responsive to change. While we talk about the “change” on the political context; it is necessary to reform the institutional set-up, the working procedure and give our missions appropriate goals and objectives. Each mission should be given targets in labour, tourism, trade and investment. The government must also make it a point to see that these objectives are being met in a time-bound manner. The performance of ambassadors must be judged in terms of FDI, Tourism, Labor, and other economic indicators that he/she has been successful in accruing while in office. Until this is done, it is useless to talk about “change” in the overall foreign policy direction when the implementing agency itself cannot respond quickly in a rapidly altering geo-strategic environment. For instance, despite having nearly a million Nepalese manpower in the Gulf, there is not even a single officer who speaks Arabic. There is not a single Chinese speaking personnel, not a single WTO expert. Expertise in areas such as these is urgently required. A country’s economy which is surviving primarily because of remittance received from specific regions and countries such as the Gulf, Malaysia and South Korea, cannot afford to have its missions manned by staff that don’t speak the language of the host countries harbouing such a huge number of Nepalese labourers.
As our embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Riyadh, Doha, Abu Dhabi have little else to do than facilitate Nepalese workers, they must be a-tuned to implement specific tasks such as helping more and more Nepalese to get in their labor markets, assist them with getting into factories and companies, coordinate with the host government’s departments of labor, immigration and interior and facilitate remittance inflow through proper banking channels. Our envoys must continuously coordinate with manpower agencies, try to facilitate them rather than emerge as a hindrance. In essence, they must convert themselves as CEOs rather than mere diplomats reporting political matters.
Only after we revitalize the ministry and the missions which are undoubtedly the core implementing agencies of our foreign policy do we need to expand the periphery of foreign relations. Change in the political system does not alter our geography; therefore, the overall parameters of Nepal’s foreign policy should NOT change i.e. it should remain guided by the principles of non-alignment, Panchsheel and adherence to the UN charter. Maintaining excellent relations with India and China - our two neighbours must always be the overarching priority. Then on, the focus should be to our relations with the United States of America, our other neighbors in South Asia, the EU countries and the Russian Federation. We must always take pride in the fact that we were never colonized in the past and that in the modern era we can serve as a transit state between India and China. The ministry must define what is our core “national interest” and thereby strive to build a national consensus across party lines on foreign policy issues. This is very crucial. As a small country however, we cannot afford to base our entire international relations exercise on “democracy” as some erudite experts have opined. Of course, we must take pride in the fact that we are a full-fledged multi-party democracy but we can at the same time have good relations with countries that have other forms of democracy as well.
New missions in Australia, South Korea, Bahrain and Singapore can be opened. There is a need of Ambassadorial level positions in Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur. Ambassadors and indeed the ministry must focus on good publicity about Nepal in the foreign media, better PR and networking with the foreign private sector industries and economic intelligence to bring in FDI and aid and also try to create “pro-Nepal” lobby groups. From what is today a post office, the MoFA can become a gateway of promoting the country’s economic opportunity worldwide.
Defense attaches´, labour attaches´ and counselors going from the police and intelligence departments must also be given training/orientation prior to their posting abroad along with the spouses of ambassadors. The MoFA must give ample thought for training and re-training to its officers in areas such as bilateral diplomacy, multilateral negotiations, communication skills and crisis management; introduction to Nepal’s culture, society, polity, economy, foreign policy and most importantly national security perspectives.
Economic diplomacy must obviously be given due priority. Although lots of tall-talk has already gone into this, there seems to be little homework within the government on how to promote economic diplomacy. The Economic Relations Coordination Division within MoFA must be activized by inducting staff from ministries of Finance, Water resources, Labour, Industry, Tourism other than those from MoFA itself. There must be excellent coordination between the missions and MoFA and between MoFA and the sectoral ministries.
The Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA) has fulfilled the mandate of meeting the professional service requirements of the MoFA as well as developed into an institution actively interacting with other branches of Government and civil services, the academia, media, industry and trade. Over the years, it has emerged as a premier research think-tank in South Asia and organizes regional conferences, national seminars and publishes books on various aspects of foreign policy. Making it lie dormant is neither in the interest of the MoFA nor for national interest.
The present government has an obligation to history to show that change in the truest sense applies to a constructive approach for further strengthening our distinct national identity and pursuit of socio-economic progress. These demand far-sighted vision and a determined pursuit.
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