Kathmandu, May 9:

Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan today apprised the Foreign Affairs Committee of the parliament on difficulties in the appointment of ambassadors.

Pradhan said there was a confusion on whether a parliamentary hearing should be conducted before appointing the nominated people as ambassadors in 17 foreign missions.

The Article 155 of the Interim Constitution says those empanelled to the constitutional bodies will be appointed after a parliamentary hearing, but it does not specify whether the appointment of an ambassador is a constitutional one.

Regulations of the restored House of Representatives (HoR) say the appointment of an ambassador is also a constitutional appointment.

Based on the regulations, lawmakers and Speaker are learnt to have been insisting that a parliamentary hearing should be conducted before appointing the ambassadors.

Pradhan also apprised the committee on the latest development on the third-country resettlement of over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees.

She told the committee that the US was ready to resettle up to 60,000 refugees, while Denmark and Australia have shown interest to take in 200 and 1,000 refugees, respectively.

Canada, the Netherlands and Norway are also interested to resettle the refugees, Pradhan said.