United States National Security Council official Rear Admiral Eileen Laubacher has arrived in Nepal.
Laubacher, who is currently working as ‘Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs’, National Security Council, Washington, arrived on a two-day official visit to Nepal via India, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.
As per the itinerary, Laubacher will meet senior government officials including Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and discuss cooperation in security and other bilateral issues. The visit will be focused on the various facets of Nepal-US ties, South Asia and matters related to security, among other things, said a foreign ministry official familiar with the visit.
Also the senior director at the National Security Council for South Asia, Laubacher had met Foreign Minister NP Saud during the latter’s recent visit to Washington DC and discussed various facets of Nepal-US ties, according to the Nepali Embassy in Washington.
As part of giving continuity to diplomatic exchanges between the US and Nepal, several senior American officials have already visited Nepal while more are scheduled to arrive within a week. USAID Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Asia Michael Schiffer is in Kathmandu. He arrived on Wednesday and met Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat on the same day.
At the meeting, they discussed long-standing friendship between the US and Nepal, and Schiffer reaffirmed USAID’s commitment to working hand-in-hand for Nepal’s development, the USAID mentioned in a post on X, formally known as Twitter.
Also coming to Nepal is Alaina B Teplitz, a former US envoy to Nepal who currently serves as assistant secretary of state. Teplitz will arrive next week and engage in administrative consultations. She had served as US ambassador to Nepal (2015 to 2018), and later to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Earlier, USAID administrator Samantha Power had visited Nepal in early February and met with top government officials and pledged continued US support for Nepal’s development, democracy and long-term inclusive prosperity.
Similarly, in January, US Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland was in Nepal for high-level meetings. Soon after her departure, Power, the chief of the USAID, landed in Kathmandu on a two-day visit in early February. Later in the same month, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs (SCA) Afreen Akhter came to Kathmandu.
Besides Biden administration officials, several officials from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) including its Chief Executive Officer Alice Albright visited Kathmandu this year to express their concerns with top Nepali officials including the prime minister regarding timely completion of the projects funded by the MCC, which is an independent US aid agency set up by the US Congress.
