Nepal PM Balendra Shah to meet Indian and Chinese envoys in Kathmandu after 100 days in office
Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah is expected to meet the Indian and Chinese ambassadors separately in Kathmandu this week, in a notable departure from his earlier self-imposed practice of not holding meetings with foreign envoys. The planned talks are being coordinated by Nepal's foreign ministry, according to the supporting report. No specific dates have been announced.
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The meetings would involve India's ambassador to Nepal, Naveen Srivastava, and China's ambassador, Zhang Maoming. The report says Shah is expected to meet both diplomats on the same day, although the schedule has not been made public. A prime ministerial aide said Shah had begun meeting various stakeholders over the past two weeks and that it was now natural to engage foreign ambassadors and diplomats as well.
The move comes after Shah's government completed its first 100 days in office. It is being presented as a signal that Kathmandu wants to underline the importance of both New Delhi and Beijing in Nepal's foreign policy. The aide quoted in the report said it was natural to begin with the ambassadors of Nepal's two neighbours, given the country's foreign policy priorities.
The development matters because Nepal sits between two major powers whose ties with Kathmandu have long carried political and strategic weight. India and China are both central to Nepal's diplomacy, trade and regional balancing, and any visible shift in how a Nepali government engages them is closely watched. A meeting with both envoys, even if routine in form, can be read as a message about continuity and balance in external relations.
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Shah's reported approach also marks a change from his earlier protocol, which had kept him from meeting foreign ambassadors. That stance had set him apart from more conventional diplomatic practice in Kathmandu. By moving to meet the two neighbouring envoys first, the prime minister appears to be signalling that his government is now entering a more formal phase of external engagement after its initial months in office.
What remains unclear is the exact timing of the meetings and whether any substantive policy issues will be discussed. The foreign ministry has not announced the agenda, and the report does not say whether the talks will lead to any public statement. The next point to watch is whether Shah follows these meetings with broader engagement with other foreign diplomats and stakeholders in the coming weeks.
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