KATHMANDU, JANUARY 29
US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has arrived in Kathmandu. She is in Nepal for a two-day visit and is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and other top leaders tomorrow.
This is the first visit of any high-level foreign leadership after Dahal became prime minister.
According to American Embassy sources, Nuland will also meet UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba tomorrow.
She is also scheduled to meet Foreign Minister Bimala Rai Paudyal.
Nuland will be particularly interested in the post-election political changes in Nepal and the progress of US aid projects in her meetings.
The embassy informed, "During this visit to Nepal, Nuland will meet leaders of the government and highlight the strong diplomatic relations between the two countries." In addition, she will gather the experience of Nepal's unique cultural heritage. We are proud to support such cultural heritage."
The US Embassy in Kathmandu has also called a press meet with the US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland at Bahadur Shah Bhawan in Patan Durbar Square. The building is situated at the gate of Adharsh Kanya School.
Nuland was sworn-in as Under Secretary for Political Affairs in April 2021.
Prior to that, she was a senior counsellor at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategic advisory and commercial diplomacy firm based in Washington, DC.
She was also a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, distinguished practitioner in grand strategy at Yale University, and a member of the Board of the National Endowment for Democracy.
A US diplomat for 33 years, Nuland served as assistant secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs from September 2013 till January 2017 under president Obama and secretary Kerry. She was State Department spokesperson during secretary Hillary Clinton's tenure and US ambassador to NATO during president George W Bush's second term from 2005-2008.
Nuland served as special envoy and chief negotiator on the Treaty on Conventional Arms Control in Europe from 2010-2011, and as deputy national security advisor to vice-president Cheney from 2003-2005. In addition to two tours at NATO in Brussels, she has served overseas in Russia, China, and Mongolia, and in various assignments at the State Department in Washington.
Nuland has a BA in history from Brown University.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 30, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
