Nagarkot, June 15
A two-day conference ogranised by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES Nepal) concluded here today.
Civil society members who took part in the conference said that Nepal needed to get rid of prisoner of geography psyche to navigate geopolitical complexities created by rivalry between Nepal's immediate neighbours- India and China in the Asia pacific region where big powers, especially the US, were trying to influence the countries of the region.
Participants said that Nepal needed to engage as many countries of the world as possible to maximise its economic advantages and it should also enhance its negotiation capacity.
Prof Krishna Raj Acharya who delivered speech on 'Reframing geopolitics: strategic approach for Nepal's future,' said Nepal needed to increase its economic profile to successfully deal with geopolitical challenges created by rising and risen powers. He said Nepali farmers needed to produce enough goods so that Nepal could be self-reliant on at least agro- products.
Prof Ram Thapaliya who spoke on 'Navigating Nepal through complex geopolitical challenges' said Nepali bureaucrats needed to increase their negotiating capacity to take deal with geopolitical challenges. He said negotiators needed to study well Nepal's weakness and strength as well as the counterparts' strength and weaknesses to gain advantage from negotiations which should be held at the right moment.
Nepal's former Ambassador to Austria Prakash Suvedi, who is Executive Director of the Institute of Foreign Affairs Studies (IFA), spoke on ' Nepal's Geopolitical Code's said Nepali stakeholders were acting on the basis of bilateral agreements so there was no vacuum but it was high time to frame geopolitical code to guide negotiators how they can maximise benefits for the country during negotiation. He said Nepali stakeholders should also keep in mind the interests of Nepalis working in the foreign countries, while dealing with geopolitical issues.
Addressing the inaugural session of the programme yesterday, Nepali Congress leaders Minendra Rijal said that Nepal should get rid of 'prisoners of geography' psyche. Delivering the keynote speech on 'Navigating the geopolitical landscape: promoting informed discourse in Nepal' Rijal said Nepal should also raise climate change issues as it would disproportionately affect Nepal. He said technology was becoming such an important issue that even smaller nations can gain enough advantages from big economies.
Asst Prof. Lila Nyaichyai spoke on 'Nepal between Geopolitics and Geoeconomics (MCC and BRI).' She said China could be expected to do only those projects that it believed could suit its geopolitical interests.
Resident Representatives, FES Nepal Natalia Figge said that Nepal's immediate neighbours -India and China -were locked in rivalry and since Nepal was vulnerable, it needs to develop its economic strategy to take advantage of the opportunities and to lessen the adverse risk that could be created by the neighbours' rivalry. Stating that Nepal needs to take advantage of opportunities, she said Nepal should not be 'prisoner of geography' it should rather develop its own strategic thinking and approaches.
Figge said Nepal needed to look beyond binary approaches and the stakeholders should make Nepal a melting pot for exchange of ideas.
FES, Nepal Program Coordinator Chandra Dev Bhatta said that that rapidly changing technology will have a bearing on all the states and there is a fear that network states can replace nation states.
Stating that Nepal's two neighbours- India and China – were doing very well for last 30 years in the economic field, Bhatta said if Nepal did not do well in terms of economy, then it might suffer in the future.
He said the adage that 'Nepal is a yam between two bowlers' may not be the correct assessment at this stage where there were multiple states that were influencing global political and economic affairs and Nepal will have to deal with them all. He said Nepal's interaction with India and China alone was not enough and Nepal should interact with all the major economies and influential countries.
