KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has appointed his Nepali Congress party’s member Narayan Khadka as the foreign affairs minister of his cabinet on Wednesday.
Deuba, under fire for an unprecedented delay in giving a full shape to the cabinet, himself was leading the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also for the past two months since his appointment. Deuba’s personal secretary Bhanu Deuba says the President’s Office has already been informed of the appointment and President Bidya Devi Bhandari is expected to administer the oath of office and secrecy to him later this afternoon.
The ruling coalition had made an agreement to immediately appoint the foreign affairs minister on Tuesday evening although several other ministers are operating without the political leadership. Deuba wanted a foreign affairs minister as soon as possible as the ministry has yet to decide who will lead the country to the ongoing United Nations General Assembly in New York.