The Prime Minister is in New York to take part in the UN Summit. This is the ideal time for Nepal to renew and cement its friendship with all the major countries. Thus it is only natural that the foreign minister should accompany the PM in his interaction with world leaders. But our FM is instead in Sweden. Most heads of the state in New York have their foreign relations chiefs with them. With the absence of our Foreign Minister, our Prime Minister cut a sorry figure when it came to the nitty-gritty of foreign affairs.

Last week, when the Japanese PM was in Kathmandu, our foreign minister was in China. Our foreign minister should visit China no doubt, but not when the head of our largest donor is in our country. This surely must have baffled the Japanese.

This underlines the fact that our Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not serious about its work.