Dr Narayan Khadka appointed as new Foreign Minister of Nepal; To attend 76th UNGA session

Dr Narayan Khadka, a member of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's Nepali Congress party, became Minister of External Affairs of Nepal on September 22. ANI reported, "Dr Narayan Khadka has been appointed as Foreign Minister of Nepal: PM Secretariat. "He will be taking the oath of office today at the President's office," PM Sher Bahadur Deuba's Personal Secretary Bhanu Deuba confirmed to ANI[sic]."

Deuba, who has been chastised for delaying full-size cabinet formation, was also the Minister of External Affairs for the first two months after taking office. Bhanu Deuba, Deuba's personal secretary, said President Vidya Devi Bhandari's office has already been notified of the appointment. The President is anticipated to administer the oath of office and secrecy to her later this afternoon.

On the advice of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, the President appointed Dr Khadka as Minister of Foreign Affairs under Article 76 (9) of the Nepalese Constitution. Khadka will attend United Nations' 76th General Assembly in New York today (September 22). Following Deuba's formation of a new administration, the position of Foreign Minister had been empty for more than two months. With the appointment of Khadka, the administration now has seven ministers, including Deuba and one minister of state.

Who is Dr Narayan Khadka?

In 1967, Dr Narayan Khadka entered politics. He has a PhD in Economics from a university in Pune. He was the vice-chairman of Nepal's National Planning Commission. He was also a member of the National Interest Preservation Committee of the First Nepalese Constituent Assembly. He served as an advisor to then-Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai in the 1990s.

He previously worked in the Sushil Koirala-led cabinet as Minister of Urban Development in 2014. Khadka is also a member of the Nepalese Constituent Assembly's 2nd Constituent Assembly. In the 2013 Nepalese Constituent Assembly election, he won the Udayapur–1 seat from the Nepali Congress.

(Image: Narayan Khadka/Facebook)