KATHMANDU: Nilambar Acharya, Nepal’s former law minister, has been appointed as the country’s ambassador to India, a position that was vacant since October 2017.
The position of the Nepalese ambassador to India was vacant for more than a year after Deep Kumar Upadhyay resigned to join politics.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Sunday administered oath of office to Acharya at the Rastrapati Bhawan at Sheetal Niwas.
Bhandari congratulated Acharya for being an ambassador to a very close neighbour of Nepal.
Acharya is the first Nepalese ambassador to take oath of office and secrecy from the president under a new provision. Earlier, ambassadors were administered oath of office by Supreme Court chief justice.
A Moscow University graduate, Acharya was initially left-leaning but later joined the Nepali Congress party.
He was minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and Labour and Social Welfare in the interim government of 1990.
Foreign policy experts here say that Acharya faces huge challenges as he takes up his diplomatic assignment next month as the first envoy to New Delhi since the 2015 blockade after of the promulgation of the new Constitution in Nepal that had strained bilateral ties, The Kathmandu Post reported.
Nepal had blamed India for the blockade. India has denied the allegations, stating the shortage of essential supplies was caused by the unrest in the country due to Madheshi protests. PTI
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