This year 2025 (BS 2082) marks the centenary year celebration of Dr. Yadav Prasad Pant, the first Nepali to earn a PhD . Dr. Pant spent some years at Tri-Chandra college as Professor of Economics before he moved to administration as Chief Economic Adviser at a time when the country was still struggling hard to restructure and modernize its economy after it liberated itself from 104 – year old autocratic Rana rule. As Chief Economic Adviser he not only proved his professional competence and expertise but also maintained high degree of integrity. These two qualities helped Dr. Pant to occupy and retain high positions, such as Finance and Planning Secretary, Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), Ambassador to Japan and Minister for Finance and Water Resources . Following the restoration of parliamentary democracy in 1990 (BS 2046), multiple parties which were banned before bounced back in active politics. Dr. Pant together with other colleagues who were politically active became a founding member of a new party called Rastriya Prajatantra Party ( RPP) .He was not only elected Vice-President of the party but also became Treasurer, a responsible position assigned to him by the party. He nursed Nawalparasi as his constituency and contested parliamentary elections twice in 1991 and 1994. He proved to be a politician of impeccable integrity and was held in high esteem by senior leaders, including the party rank and file. Dr. Pant was never ambivalent in his attitude towards national development. As he was every inch a nationalist, he always gave priority to national interest in all capacities from finance secretary to finance minister. While addressing national seminars or regional and international conferences, Dr. Pant never deviated from his commitment to the pursuit and promotion of national interest. He was fully aware of constraints and challenges of a structural nature that Nepal, a land-locked and least developed country was faced with. Land-lockedness, a severe geographical disadvantage, made Nepal dependent on southern neighbor India for transit facilities with high costs of transportation. On the other hand, Nepal which was admitted to the UN four years after it liberated itself from Rana family rule and ushered in democratic rule was categorized by the UN as one of the least developed among developing countries (LDCs). It is heartening to note that Nepal will graduate next year in 2026 from LDC status and hopes to become a middle income country by 2030. But the way ahead is not smooth sailing for Nepal as it needs international cooperation for adjustment to emerging realities and challenges. In this paper, I am going to focus more on Dr. Pant's diplomatic assignment as Ambassador to Japan and four other countries, namely, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the Philippines. As Resident Ambassador to Japan, a highly developed and industrialized country, Dr. Pant, during his innings as Ambassador for five years, impressed the government and people of Japan, the academia and the business community, civil society and the social media with his professional expertise and competence, diplomatic skill and acumen, and, above all, his sincerity and integrity that led Japan to bestow upon him the prestigious medal Order of Rising Sun in recognition of his outstanding contribution to promoting friendly relations between Nepal and Japan. The Japanese people noticed that Dr. Pant was soft spoken, cultured, polite and never lost temper in pleading with the Japanese government for more assistance and technical know-how to a poor country like Nepal. Sundar Nath Bhattarai, former Ambassador and a senior diplomat, who worked with Dr Pant as his Deputy at Nepal Embassy in Tokyo, recalls his impression of Dr Pant as a well read and well informed professional economist as well as a well dressed charismatic diplomat with winning manners and amiable disposition. It was a happy coincidence that when Dr. Pant was Ambassador to Japan from 1974 to 1979, I was Nepal's Deputy Permanent Representative (DPR) to the UN from 1976 to 1980. The Nepal Mission to the UN entrusted me with the responsibility of representing the country in the Economic Committee known as the Second Committee of the UN that discussed, inter alia, problems faced by the least developed and land-locked developing countries. In this context, I wrote to Dr. Pant at Nepal's embassy in Tokyo, requesting his expert guidance in discharging my responsibilities. He promptly and sincerely advised me to thoroughly keep myself abreast with important issues that came up for discussion in the committee and prioritize the areas in which international cooperation could be sought and secured in collaboration with like-minded countries in similar situations like Nepal. His advice and guidance helped me to become active, championing the cause of LDCs and LLDCs till the end of my tenure in 1980. In 1979, Nepal, for the first time, put up its candidacy for ECOSOC membership and got elected to one of the two main organs of the UN, the other being the Security Council. The establishment of formal diplomatic relations between Nepal and Japan in 1956 marked the beginning of substantial bilateral cooperation in social, economic and other sectors. The continued exchange of high level visits followed by exchange of views of mutual interest and concern at different levels between the two countries have strengthened and deepened friendly relations and opened up new avenues for cooperation in such areas as agriculture, industry, health, education, transport, telecommunications, energy and water resources. The magnitude of technical and economic cooperation increased considerably and substantially during Dr. Pant's tenure of office as Ambassador. In an article, 'Some Aspects of Nepal-Japan Economic Cooperation' published in a Special Issue of Today about Japan in December 2001, Dr. Pant makes the following observation: 'In the overall context of economic cooperation, Japan has played a leading role in Nepal's overall development through the provision of concessional resources.' Japanese aid to Nepal which began with a loan substantially increased in the form of grants since the mid-seventies coinciding with Dr. Pant's appointment as Ambassador to Japan in 1974. Japan ranks today as one of the largest bilateral donors to Nepal. The crucial role of transport in a land-locked and least developed county like Nepal lacking in infrastructure and connectivity like roads and bridges linking one part with other parts of the country needs no overemphasis. Japan financed the construction of Janakpur-Sindhuli Road and the construction of a number of hydro-electric projects, such as Kulekhani-I and Kulekhani-II constructed in 1982 and 1987 respectively. Dr. Pant emphasizes the need for minimizing trade deficit with Japan by increasing trade contacts between Nepali and Japanese businessmen and industrialists and through frequent exchange of trade missions. Dr. Pant who was familiar with the trade pattern of Nepal -Japan relations calls emphatically for identifying new products that can be exported to Japan. In the opinion of Dr. Pant, it is equally important to improve the quality of new products in order to ensure their easy access to the Japanese market. It is common knowledge that Nepal exports very little to Japan because of less than satisfactory quality of our products. One way to address this problem, according to Dr. Pant, is to invite Japanese experts to assist Nepal in improving the quality of our goods and services. As stated earlier, Japan is an outstanding partner in Nepal's socio-economic development process. It can be said with certainty that Dr. Pant, during his ambassadorial tenure, not only upgraded Nepal's formal bilateral relations with Japan to one as a major donor and a reliable development partner but also paved the way for his able successors to further broaden and strengthen the bonds of cooperation. The highest tribute to Dr. Pant in this centenary year would be to consolidate the gains made by the country during the years when he was chief economic adviser, finance secretary, governor of NRB, ambassador to Japan and, last but not the least, finance minister who had the distinction of introducing tangible reforms, including success in transforming Nepal's financial governance. May his soul rest in eternal peace. The author is the former Head, Central Dept. of English, TU and Former Ambassador to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives