Foreign Service Day observed

Kathmandu, May 24

Gyan Chandra Acharya, Nepal's former ambassador to the United Kingdom and United Nations Under-Secretary General, said that Nepal should adopt active, balanced and dynamic foreign policy in the rapidly changing international scenario, which is not easy.

"It demands meticulous planning and execution," he said while speaking at the Nepal Foreign Service Day 2025 organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in Kathmandu on Saturday.

Acharya also suggested to uphold the pride of Nepal as one of the oldest countries in this part of the world.

Rudra Kumar Nepal, former ambassador, said that the MoFA has an expertise and professionals to handle the foreign affairs to achieve the national goal and meet the national interest.

"There is a need for innovative approaches in diplomacy like the recently held Sagarmatha Sambaad," he said.

Likewise, Foreign Secretary, Amrit Bahadur Rai, said that leadership in the foreign service is about being the first to rise in a crisis and the last to retreat from responsibility.

Addressing the senior officials, he said that top diplomats are not merely supervisors, they are architects of unity, mentors of purpose, and builders of high-performing teams.

"In diplomacy, learning flows not just through instruction, but through osmosis — your juniors absorb as much from your tone as from your tasking, from how you act as much as what you assign," he said.

According to Rai, the Foreign Service Day is about the reflection, celebration and recognition of contribution in the foreign service.

"We must equip ourselves with strategic foresight, solution-oriented thinking, and bridge-building skills. We must continue to uphold our independent foreign policy, rooted in the UN Charter, non-alignment, Panchsheel, and our constitutional values," Rai maintained.

He also said that they must be bold in negotiation, principled in partnership, and visionary in strategy.

On the occasion, the MoFA welcomed the newly recruited officers of the Ministry with certificate of acknowledgement.

The MoFA had celebrated the first Foreign Affairs Service Day in 2022.

The celebration is made to mark the Nepal Foreign Service (Formation and Classification) Rules, 1961. May 24 is marked every year as the Foreign Service Day in remembrance of the day when the Foreign Service was legally codified in Nepal.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 May 2025.