The process for filing applications for the posts of ambassadors on the Rastriya Swatantra Party’s quota has started.
RSP called for online application forms by introducing the Ambassador Recommendation Criteria, 2024 on Monday.
The party had formed a taskforce under the coordination of Member of Parliament (MP) Shishir Khanal in which Sobita Gautam and Prof. Dr. Atindra Dahal are the members.
Over 50 candidates have filed applications until Tuesday morning, Khanal, the coordinator of the task-force told Nepalkhabar.
“As many as 50 candidates have filed applications until Tuesday morning,” said he.
Online forms will remain open till Friday evening, according to Khanal. “The online forms will remain open until Friday evening,” said Khanal, “Once the process is completed, we will select the candidates and recommend their names to the government.”
Recommendation criteria
Four criteria have been set for the recommendation of ambassadors, according to a taskforce member.
According to the set criteria, the candidates should:
- possess sound knowledge and experience about political and diplomatic affairs, international trade (political economy), economics, and public currency.
- hold the capacity to establish relations with Nepali people living abroad, tackle their problems
- hold good command over language (international) and diplomatic affairs.
- have the knowledge of geography, law and political issues of the country to which the ambassador is recommended.
The applicants meeting the above four criteria will be given preference, the task-force member has said. Besides, the candidate’s individual caliber and public image will be taken into consideration, according to the taskforce member.
The posts of 11 ambassadors are lying vacant after the government recalled them on June 6.
Out of 11, CPN (UML), CPN (Maoist Center), Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) have already shared ambassadorial posts for eight countries.
India has recommended former Chief Secretary Lokdarshan Regmi as Nepali Ambassador to India, former secretary Chandra Ghimire to America, Sushil Pyakurel (South Korea), Dr. Netra Prasad Timsina (Malaysia) and Sumnima Tuladhar (Denmark). However, Pyakurel has refused to accept the ambassadorial offer.
Similarly, Abu Sufyan Khan Musalman has been recommended as the ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Dr Pushpa Raj Rajkarnikar to Spain on the JSP quota. Likewise, Dr Bijan Pant has been recommended as the ambassador to the United Kingdom on the Maoist Center’s quota.
Remaining countries to which ambassadors are yet to be recommended are Qatar, Israel and Portugal. Of them, two ambassadors will be recommended on the RSP quota and the remaing one will be recommended by UML, sources have said.
