Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power has arrived in Nepal.
Power is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bimala Rai Paudyal and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel today.
Administrator Power will also meet with civil society leaders, community groups, students, businesses, and government officials to discuss Nepal’s efforts and achievements in becoming a more democratic, prosperous, inclusive, and resilient country, according to the press statement issued by the USAID headquarters.
During the visit, the USAID Administrator Power will underscore the United States’ enduring, more than 75-year partnership with the government and people of Nepal, according to the statement.
Power is the senior-most foreign dignitary to visit Kathmandu after the formation of the new government under the leadership of Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda in late December.
She will highlight USAID’s commitment to increasing our engagement with Nepal and its new government. "Administrator Power will announce new efforts to build momentum to strengthen democratic gains in federalism, social inclusion, civil society, and media freedom," the USAID added.
Power holds a cabinet rank in the US order of precedence. She is the first USAID Administrator to be a member of the National Security Council. She is mandated to ensure that development plays a critical role in America’s responses to a range of economic, humanitarian, and geopolitical issues.
Prior to joining the Biden-Harris Administration, Power was the Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and the William D. Zabel Professor of Practice in Human Rights at Harvard Law School. From 2013 to 2017, Power served in the Obama-Biden Administration as the 28th US Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
The visit comes a week after US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland visited Nepal.
Nuland visited Nepal on Sunday and Monday this week. During the visit, she met with Prime Minister Prachanda, Foreign Minister Bimala Rai Paudyal, CPN (UML) Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba.
She is learnt to have sought the ruling coalition's policy in relation to Nepal's ongoing cooperation with the United States.
