USA to develop relationship as Nepal wants

Kathmandu, Aug. 28

The United States of America has said that it wanted to develop a kind of relationship that Nepal wanted.

“I don’t believe in the donor-recipient kind of relationship between the two countries,” said Ambassador of the United States of America Randy W. Berry in an exclusive interview with The Rising Nepal. “This relationship is truly unique, it’s unparalleled and has witnessed decades of consistency.”

According to him, the US engagement with Nepal is based on three dimensions – first, political stability and security, greater transparency and governance, second, economic opportunity and growth, and the third, strengthened trade with the USA.

Ambassador Berry also said that the USA did not use other’s lens to see Nepal. “It makes no sense to look at Nepal through the lens of other countries. We have good relations with both India and China,” he said. “With the nature and type of our engagements in Nepal, I don’t see any rationality in the blame. It’s a completely mistaken idea.”

He also maintained that Nepal could be benefitted from its own independent decision on national security interest.

Nepal is not a finite entity to be manipulated by any power, it can make decisions on its own sovereign capacity, he said.

“It’s not a zero-sum choice that Nepal has but in fact Nepal has opportunities to make strong and positive relationships not only with the two immediate neighbours but also with the entire international community,” he added.

Ambassador Berry said that Nepal was never asked to join the Indo-Pacific Strategy.

“Some people interpreted the meeting between the foreign ministers of Nepal and the USA as whether you can join it or not. It’s a completely erroneous question as there is nothing to join,” he said.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 29 August 2019.